Black Tot Day

[1] Due to the difficulty in storing the large quantities of liquid that this required, in 1655 a half pint (284 ml) of rum was made equivalent and became preferred to beer.

However, rather than ending it the navy further halved it to one-eighth of an imperial pint (71 ml) per day, eliminating the evening serving of the ration.

[citation needed] On 17 December 1969 the Admiralty Board issued a written answer to a question from the MP for Woolwich East, Christopher Mayhew, saying "The Admiralty Board concludes that the rum issue is no longer compatible with the high standards of efficiency required now that the individual's tasks in ships are concerned with complex, and often delicate, machinery and systems on the correct functioning of which people's lives may depend".

[4] 31 July 1970 was the final day of the rum ration[5] and it was poured as usual at 6 bells in the forenoon watch (11am) after the pipe of "up spirits".

Some sailors wore black armbands, tots were "buried at sea" and in one navy training camp, HMS Collingwood, the Royal Naval Electrical College at Fareham in Hampshire, there was a mock funeral procession complete with black coffin and accompanying drummers and piper.