As one of the world's eight spirits, rum is related to pirates in both novels and film and television works, and even in the game "Assassin's Creed 4", there is also rum.
So why is rum tied to pirates, where does it originate, and what are the interesting stories behind it?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="6" > the origin of rum</h1>
Rum originated on a small island called Barbados, which is famous for growing sugar cane. During the colonial period, the Caribbean was divided between Britain, France, Spain and the Netherlands, and the types of plantations at that time were also more varied, including tobacco and cocoa beans, but the most cultivated was sugar cane.
At that time, mature sugarcane was directly made into sucrose, and in the process of making it, another thing was produced: molasses.
This molasses is not only ugly, but also tastes bad, so in most cases it is directly poured into the sea and destroyed. It was not until Barbados, a slave who grew sugar cane, picked up molasses by the sea and distilled it to make spirits, that the earliest rum was born.
Here's an interesting detail, the wine didn't have a name at the time, and the slaves could only use simple English at the time, so when the slave drank the spirit, he would shout to the sky with great excitement: "Rumbullion" (The English meaning of excitement), "Rum" got its name.
Because the level of distillation of slaves was not high, the intensity of the initial rum was exaggerated to an absurd degree, and the alcohol level even exceeded 70 degrees at one point, so many Barbados locals called this wine "ghost" (English original meaning: kill devil), because the rum was popular with the locals, it quickly attracted the attention of the British army.
The raw material of rum is sugar cane, and Barbados is also rich in sugarcane, which made the British at that time see business opportunities, although rum can not be compared with whiskey and brandy, but it has a unique advantage, that is, the price is very cheap, anyone can enjoy it.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="65" > the best prize of World War I</h1>
As the British colonies expanded around the world, rum became a household name. Although it was only an alcoholic beverage, rum was arguably saved countless lives during World War I, and even without rum, more people would have died by suicide on the battlefield.
After the outbreak of World War I, the British brought rum to the Western Front as a military ration, and according to the regulations at that time, as long as the soldiers who were still alive and did not make mistakes, they could get a cup of rum every day.
This is the best time of the day for young soldiers who are all living in the "real hell", this kind of consumable that is as valuable as cigarettes on the battlefield, can relieve a lot of mental stress for nervous British soldiers, and even those soldiers who can't stand the cruel environment have not raised their guns to commit suicide by drinking rum.
In addition to relieving mental stress, rum also became a reward on the battlefield, if important information is found during the reconnaissance mission, then the scouts will get a large glass of rum as a reward after returning to the trench, which also makes the British soldiers at that time participate in the "reconnaissance mission" a lot more enthusiastically.
In addition, rum can also be used as a medical supplie for disinfection and anesthesia on the battlefield, and if the soldier does not have anesthesia during the operation, the field doctor will recommend that the soldier be filled with two mouthfuls of rum to relieve the pain.
Even some of the seriously wounded soldiers wanted a glass of rum before they died, which was their last stubbornness.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="66" > bloody case caused by rum</h1>
Although there are many benefits to rum on the battlefield, there are also times when drinking rum is tragic.
In the Battle of Amiens in 1918, a timid soldier did not dare to go into battle to kill the enemy, so the commander poured 4 glasses of rum into the timid soldier in a row before preparing for the attack, and after seeing the soldier's face was rosy, his eyes were confused, and he no longer trembled, and left with confidence.
But after the attack began, the drunken soldier, although he had the courage to charge, walked backwards and backwards, and not long after he stepped out, he was beaten into a honeycomb, and then the commander who drank him was dismissed, and this situation happened repeatedly, causing the British army to no longer encourage the soldiers to drink before the war, but to let the soldiers come back alive and reward these soldiers with double rum.
From the above story, it can be found that the rum of the First World War is not only a drink, but also a reward and a tranquilizer that can make soldiers better relieve mental stress.
And why pirates like rum, in fact, has something to do with this.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="67" >Why do pirates like to drink rum? </h1>
In the pirate-rampant colonial era, rum was the cheapest of all spirits, which was undoubtedly the best spiritual comfort for pirates with clean faces.
In addition, due to the limited storage capacity at that time, the fresh water in the ship could not be preserved for too long, and water was the most important resource for them, and there was no one.
When the pirates were at a loss, they found that the rum that had been robbed from other merchant ships, after being mixed with water, could perfectly solve the problem of water deterioration, which made rum a must-have drink for pirates.
The pirate captains became more obedient after discovering that their men had drunk rum, so they used rum as a "means" to control their men.
Historians who have gone through the diary of the legendary pirate "Blackbeard" Edward Titch also find ways to control rum.
Blackbeard wrote in his diary:
It was an ordinary day, our ship was sailing at sea, food and water were plentiful, except for the rum that had been drunk by the damn sailors. It is precisely because there is no wine that they have become unusually sober, shouting that they want to go home, and saying that the bad things they have done will definitely go to hell, and even some people crouch in the corner and cry silently, saying that they don't want to do it, they want to go home.
When the first officer ordered them to return to their posts, no one obeyed the command, and even by noon there were a few people mutinous.
Fortunately, a merchant ship was found in the afternoon, and the pathetic sailors united again and attacked desperately, and after piling up the looted rum barrels in the cabin, the sailors who cried and shouted to go home never said they wanted to go home again.
From this account, the role of rum is actually no different from drugs, and even under the action of alcohol, it can make a person do any crazy thing.
And this "Blackbeard", who likes to write a diary, actually has a great relationship with rum, and even his death is related to rum.
On November 22, 1718, Blackbeard's Queen Anne's Revenge was attacked by the British Royal Navy, when Blackbeard was drinking rum with his friends, and after discovering that he had been attacked, Blackbeard did not instigate, but took advantage of the wine to fight the British. Although drunk, but Blackbeard is an old pirate after all, sober-minded with one enemy and two, easily sinking one of the warships pursuing him, and when Blackbeard led a group of pirates to board another British warship, because of too careless, surrounded by British soldiers, Blackbeard, who had been shot several times, did not feel pain at all because of the effect of alcohol, and rushed to the commander of the warship with a knife, just as he was about to kill the Englishman in front of him, a British soldier stabbed Blackbeard from behind, and a generation of tyrants fell.
Because The story of Blackbeard drunkenly raising a knife and slashing the Englishman is too raw, many pirates regard him as their idol and sing his deeds from generation to generation. It is precisely because of the arrogance of the pirates that rum has a deeper cultural significance.
After the publication of "Treasure Island" written by the British novelist Robert in 1881, pirates and rum became a well-known legend, in which pirates have three treasures: pirate flag, eye mask, rum, and there are still many movies and games about pirates that learn from it.
After talking about the history of rum, let's talk about the interesting knowledge about rum.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="68" > funny toast for pirates</h1>
Pirates drank rum almost every day, but they couldn't find a good excuse, so they would create a toast every day, and the toast was different every day:
Sunday: Cheers to friends and comrades who disappeared into the sea!
Monday: Cheers to the world's great pirate ships!
Tuesday: Cheers to the brave and fearless pirates!
Wednesday: For the captain's big mouth just now, cheers!
Thursday: Cheers to being able to live forever in the bloody naval battle
Friday: Toast to being able to find the treasure smoothly
Saturday: Cheers to become One Piece (as if something wasn't right)
It can be seen that the pirates really fight in order to have a legitimate reason to drink, although it does not sound very elegant, but every day to find an excuse to drink and happy, but also a good attitude to life.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="69" > the world's first cocktail</h1>
In addition to the pirates love to drink rum, the british Royal Navy soldiers at that time also like to drink, when rum also surpassed beer, became the only ration of the British Navy, which shows how popular it is.
But the logic of the army's behavior is different from the pirates, they pay more attention to discipline, so for those soldiers who make trouble after drinking alcohol is very headache, in order to meet the soldiers' demand for rum, can not let them get too drunk, a vice admiral named Edward Vernon, ordered all the rum to be halved, and add water, orange juice, lemon juice to dilute, thought it would be opposed by a large number of soldiers, did not expect that through the preparation of rum taste is unusually rich and soft, and this kind of blended wine, It is the prototype of today's cocktail, and even the mojito we drink now, which also evolved from this.
In addition to being delicious, rum with juice was able to prevent scurvy and relieve the British soldiers who were suffering from scurvy at the time.
In addition to drinking, disinfecting, and calming, rum has another more magical effect, which is to prevent corpses from decaying.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="70" > Nelson's blood</h1>
In 1805, the Battle of England and France broke out, the legendary British admiral Nelson led an army to block the French fleet, although the victory was finally won, but Nelson was unfortunately shot and killed, because he could not dock for a short time, so the ship's doctor at that time soaked Nelson's body into a rum barrel to prevent decay.
After half a month of sailing, the battleship successfully arrived at the port, but when the barrel was opened, everyone was dumbfounded, because the rum in the barrel had already been drunk.
Because the story was so bizarre, rum was named "Nelson's Blood" in honor of the legendary naval hero.
If you look at the story from a modern perspective, it should be that the rotten gas of Nelson's body has stretched a gap in the barrel, causing the rum to flow out of the barrel, and it is not really someone who dares to drink the rum containing the corpse.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="71" > which games and movies have rum appeared</h1>
There are many pirate or naval warfare films involving rum, such as the well-known Pirates of the Caribbean series, Russell Crowe's Raging Sea Battle, as well as Zorro, Harry Potter, and The Adventures of Tintin.
In the game, in addition to the above mentioned "Assassin's Creed 4", the MMORPG game "World of Warcraft" also has rum, which is interesting that only killing pirate characters will drop this item, which is also a tribute.
What other interesting stories do you know about rum? Welcome to leave a comment.