Water Capacity and Galley Needs : Naval History Too

Byrdman

Came across some interesting naval history when searching for water capacity needs..... Enjoy Cocktail

The USS Constitution (Old Ironsides) as a combat vessel carried 48,600 gallons of fresh water for her crew of 475 officers and men. This was sufficient to last six months of sustained operations at sea. She carried no evaporators.

However, let it be noted that according to her log, "On July 27, 1798, the USS Constitution sailed from Boston with a full complement of 475 officers and men, 48,600 gallons of fresh water, 7,400 cannon shot, 11,600 pounds of black powder and 79,400 gallons of rum."

Her mission: "To destroy and harass English shipping." Making Jamaica on 6 October, she took on 826 pounds of flour and 68,300 gallons of rum.

Then she headed for the Azores, arriving there 12 November. She provisioned with 550 pounds of beef and 64,300 gallons of Portuguese wine.

On 18 November, she set sail for England. In the ensuing days she defeated five British men-of-war and captured and scuttled 12 English merchantmen, salvaging only the rum aboard each.

By 26 January, her powder and shot were exhausted. Nevertheless, although unarmed she made a night raid up the Firth of Clyde in Scotland. Her landing party captured a whisky distillery and transferred 40,000 gallons of single malt Scotch aboard by dawn. Then she headed home.

The USS Constitution arrived in Boston on 20 February, 1799, with no cannon shot, no food, no powder, no rum, no wine, no whisky and 38,600 gallons of stagnant water.

Interesting... No wonder we have less than 30 gallon of fresh water onboard.... CoolSmile

MOOSE · Posted: Wed Apr 26, 2006 3:13 pm Post subject:

I've often thought about filling the water tank with rum!!! LOL
Al

B~C · Posted: Wed Apr 26, 2006 3:19 pm Post subject:

OK, that does it, I'm taking the water tank out and converting that space into a powder bunker

Socrateur · Posted: Wed Apr 26, 2006 3:35 pm Post subject:

That works out to 530.5 gallons per man for the 208 day period at sea, and 2.55 gallons consumed per man per day. Yikes.

jimandlaurie · Posted: Wed Apr 26, 2006 4:44 pm Post subject:

Me thinks that they definitely had a an extended happy hour cruise . It shows that if there was a spirited Beer

, prize , they knew how do go after it and get it and learned how to "conserve" the precious water.
Arrgh Matey!!! pour me a Wee Dram Smile

Sawdust · Posted: Wed Apr 26, 2006 4:51 pm Post subject:

And because I descend from a long line of old salts I have learned to appreciate single malt - without water!! Wink

Dusty

Knotty C · Posted: Wed Apr 26, 2006 7:24 pm Post subject:

catdogcat · Posted: Wed Apr 26, 2006 8:32 pm Post subject:

So how many gallons of spirits did each man consume per day? I suck at math.

gljjr · Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 10:55 am Post subject:

So they drank 2 1/2 gallons of alchohol a day and a little more than a cup of water a day (probably used for cooking and evaporation!). And we wonder why there were so many "Accidents" at sea? Sheesh!

New Hampshire Guy · Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 3:25 pm Post subject:

Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy for WWI, was the guy who banned alcohol from Navy ships, and was immortalized by the slang remark "a cup of Joe" because coffee is now the strongest thing served aboard...

B~C · Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 3:42 pm Post subject:

was he a distant cousin of Grogephus Danials?

drjohn71a · Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 3:59 pm Post subject:

Can you imagine being the poor guy who had to stand in front of all those sailors and tell them no more booze? JOhn

Sneaks · Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 5:23 pm Post subject:

thataway · Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2006 11:59 am Post subject:

This makes a nice story, but.....
Unfortunately this entire "history" is a hoax. The Constitution did not sail to England in 1798--in fact that year was spent patroling the Coast of the US from Cape Henry to Straits of Florida. Later she did go into the Caribbean. This was during the Quasi French war.

Her first European assignment was in 1803 when she patrolled the Med.

It is difficult to find out where this myth orignated but some of the facts from her log are:

*While it is true that CONSTITUTION cruised the West Indies during this time frame, it was to protect US shipping from FRENCH privateers, not the British.

*CONSTITUTION was moored in Boston Massachusetts from 10 November through 28 December 1798, which negates the trip overseas.

*Of the vessels engaged with CONSTITUTION during 1799, none of them were British, all were French.

*CONSTITUTION was in port at Prince Rupert's Bay, Dominica between 24 January through 01 February 1799.

One should also note, that the consumption of alchohol on board ship was carefully measured and monitored. Sailors were regulated to rations of rum a day, equaling about a pint total. The rum was guarded by marines and doled out my the ship's Master at Arms.

So....enjoy your rum, but figure on a minimum of 2 liters of water a day per person!