I was aboard the Victory in May, 2007, and the woman I spoke to was definitely a uniformed sailor. My point is that she didn't know the story at all, even to tell me it wasn't true.

My info on lime (or lemon) juice comes from "Nelson's Blood: the Story of Naval Rum," by A.J. Pack, Kenneth Mason, pub., 1982. It said Admiral Vernon "strongly encouraged" the mixing of sugar and juice with the water and rum. He came up with the idea of watering down the straight stuff when he noticed that less guys fell out of the rigging that way. The juice and sugar may have just been for flavor. By the 1780's, Sir Gilbert Blane was recommending that everyone be issued citrus juice, not just the sick, but in the way of all bureaucracies, the Royal Navy didn't act on it for many years.