Tomorrow, July 31, is the fiftieth anniversary of Black Tot Day (July 31, 1970) when, at noon, the Royal Navy, at the insistence of Parliament, ended the daily rum ration for the sailors. I had planned for years to organize a song circle that evening to feature shanties and songs of rum and drunken sailors, but the pandemic put an end to that. Perhaps online sings tonight, tomorrow, and over the weekend might want to mark the occasion with a song and half a gill of rum (that’s two ounces) to which the ration had been reduced by the end.

Here are a couple of links to more details on the 315-year tradition.

https://blacktot.com/the-story/1407/the-day-the-rum-died
https://military.wikia.org/wiki/Black_Tot_Day