Royal Navy Imperial Rum Flagon - 1 Gallon (Pre-1970s)

A gallon (4.5 liters) flagon of Royal Navy Imperial Rum, which is a brilliant example of naval tradition & distilling history.

If you were a sailor for the British Navy from 1655, you were allowed a daily 'tot' (71ml) of rum. This was a morale booster for the hard-working sailors on long and challenging voyages at sea. However, in 1970 on 'Black Tot Day', this tradition was abandoned since drunken sailors were deemed unfit to operate the advanced machinery found on ships... health and safety gone mad!

Some of the rum remained post 'Black Tot Day', which was then auctioned.  A large quantity of this rum was purchased by Brian Cornford (ex-British Navy Submariner during WWII) to be stored in a bonded warehouse in Gibraltar. The rum was then bottled into wicker-covered demijohns, each corked and wax-dated by Cornford to be sold to visiting British Navy sailors.

This is one of these rum Flagons, which contains full strength (approx 110 proof) British Navy Rum, traditionally produced as a blend of rums from colonized countries, using Molasses.

*Wax Seal showing date has slightly melted*