Hydration at Sea ... It's a desert!

Hydration at Sea is an Issue? But you’re surrounded by water! Does Rum hydrate?

Antarctica is a desert. With all the snow you might not necessarily think lack of precipitation is an issue. However, this is aridity is one of the most challenging acclimations our body has to make.  The instant we stepped off the plane I could feel the moisture being sapped from my lips and skin. Freshly washed hair is full of static. Nostrils are dry and crusty every day. Contacts feel itchy and artificial tears are a welcome flood. Every morning, we wake up with dry mouth and are incredibly dehydrated. Today my pee was almost brown. Normally I think this would be over share, but at this point in time it’s more of a health concern than TMI. Making sure to stay hydrated while you’re working in the lab can be a challenge. I really wish I had packed a Camelback.

The urine color chart was on the back of every stall.

Back in the day, sailors must not have cared about hydration. They cared more about drinking their rum and other spirits. Here is an article published in the Navy News of a maritime warfare cruise. A series by Lieutenant Tom Lewis, Royal Australian Naval College, Jervis Bay

Take note of the starting and ending volumes of water vs. rum.

The USS Constitution (Old Ironsides) as a combat vessel carried 48,600

gallons of fresh water for her crew of 475 officers and men. This was

Sufficient to last 6 months of sustained operations; she carried no

evaporators. On 22 July 1798, the USS Constitution set sail from

Boston.

She left with 475 men, 48,600 gallons of water, 7,400 cannon shots,

11,600 pounds of black powder and 79,400 gallons of rum. Her mission -

to harass British shipping. Making Jamaica on 6 October, she took on

826 pounds of flour and 68,300 gallons of rum. Then she headed for the

Azores, arriving on 12 November. She provisioned with 550 pounds of

beef and 64,300 gallons of Portuguese wine. On 18 November she set

sail for England. In the ensuing days she defeated five British Man of

War and captured and scuttled 12 English Merchant ships, salvaging

only the rum.

By 27 January, her powder and shot were exhausted. Unarmed, she made a

night raid up the Firth of Clyde. Her Raiding Party captured a whiskey

distillery and transferred 40,000 gallons aboard by dawn. Then she

headed home.

The USS Constitution arrived in Boston on 20 February 1799 with no

cannon shot, no food, no rum, no wine, no whiskey and 48,600 gallons

of stagnant water.

Apparently it was standard for sailors to receive at least 1 cup of rum a day. This was written in the USS Constitution and the British naval law.  Today most ships are dry and these declarations are no longer written officially.