And we still had the rum ration! The single greatest travesty in Naval history was Josephus Daniels abolishing the rum ration and making all of ships dry. Anyway, splice the mainbrace and all that:
The following is an account of USS Constitution’s famous war cruise during the War of 1812. In August, Constitution set sail from Boston with 475 officers and men — about the same complement as one of our Aegis cruisers today — and the following supplies:
- 48,000 gallons of fresh water
- 7,400 cannon shot
- 11,000 pounds of black powder and…
- 79,400 gallons of rum.
Upon arriving in Jamaica on 6 October, she took on:
- 826 pounds of flour and…
- 69,300 gallons of rum.
She then headed for the Azores, where she took on
- 550 tons of beef and…
- 64,000 gallons of Portuguese wine.
On 13 November she set sail for England. In the ensuing days, she defeated 5 British men of war and sank 12 British merchant ships, salvaging only their rum.
By 27 January, her powder and shot were exhausted. Nonetheless, she made a raid on the Firth of Clyde. Her landing party captured a whiskey distillery and transferred 40,000 gallons of scotch aboard. She then headed home.
Constitution made port at Boston harbor on the 23rd of February with no cannon shot, no powder, no food, no rum, no whiskey, no wine — but with 48,000 gallons of stagnant water!