Nelson’s men

And probably more reasonable to suggest, that given enough Rum a day, The men of the Royal Navy would fight anybody. Given the Rum, and the Blood red painted gun decks that hid the carnage in battle, It was probably a numbing effect that made the Royal Navy as efficient as it was.

I think the effect of a small ration of rum is being overestimated, men of the Royal navy in the 18th century were brought up on alcohol and in fact most children of the time drunk small beer because it was free of all the horrible disease’s present in water at the time. Small Beer was taken from the first brew and was allot weeker than full strength beer. Having spent a lifetime drinking progressively stronger Brews the Rum ration would have little more effect than a single pint of modern lager. In fact being drunk on a ship of the line resulted in severe puinishment, this didnt stop the crew trying to get at the rum store and it was a constant battle for the officers to keep them away from the Rum. The reason the RN was so succesful was the strict disaplin constant drills and the quality of thier officers. The RN unlike the army of the day promoted on merit, you could’nt buy a commision in the RN. This lead to a proffesional and talented leadership. On the other side the French executed 70% of thier experianced naval officers during the revolution. Toe to toe the British ships could fire three broadsides to every one of the French, the rest is history!