I was in Eagle many years ago [50's], and years before this date when I was 'UA' meaning too young [under 20] to draw a tot, and as you see, this card comes from that ship, the largest one the royal navy ever had, albeit just a few tons above the displacement of her sister the Ark Royal.

The card was issued by the Regulating Office in Eagle on the 16th July 1970 which was a Thursday. The '1st Week' began on Friday the 17th July but the card owner did not use it until Monday the 20th, and during that first week apparently only used it a further two times viz the Tuesday and the Wednesday. The '2nd Week' commenced with Friday 24th and ended on Thursday 30th.  However, note how the card was clipped on the bottom between the 'S' of H.M.S. and the 'E' of Eagle to commemorate the Final Issue day which was on the 31st July 1970. However, in 1969, the Admiralty issued DCI[RN]466/69 which said....The Admiralty noted 'with grave concern' the giving of 'Sippers' and drew attention to QRRN Article 1839[3] which prohibited all 'loan, transfer, gift or barter' of spirits or other intoxicating drink.

For vessel afloat, rum was only issued to all eligible ratings  [those over the age of 20 who had not chosen the option 'T' meaning Temperance] when at sea or in a port, home or abroad, where the ships company continued living onboard, or were victualled ashore as a ships company*.  When in the home port where their families lived, men who lived ashore with their wives were called RA's [Ration Allowance] and were not victualled for rum. Men, single or married, who for whatever reason were victualled ashore  [L&RA] - Lodgings and Ration Allowance, usually because there was no suitable service accommodation - but not living with their wives and families [RA] - were not victualled members for rum.  In shore establishments home and abroad rum was issued to all eligible personnel who were declared 'G' {Grog}. In this latter case, victualled ships company members of ships refitting in local dockyards drew their rum in these establishments. Eligibility was not only age related and an opting to become 'G',  but free of stoppage of grog which was a regular punishment awarded by the commanding officer.

The card and its associated procedures and customs, was only used in the navy when rum was issued in large ships or in shore establishments.  On small ships/vessel it was not issued or used, the system relying on a tick-off system.  The rum would be collected in a mess fanny from the issuing point [in a submarine for example by the coxswain/issuing officer from the CPO's and PO's mess] on the basis of victualled members registered as 'G' and taken back to the mess deck for issue under the authority and watching eye of the killick of the mess or his appointed deputy. As an example of a daily issue to a junior rates mess we take a mess having thirty members. Ten are 'UA'; two are under stoppages;  five are 'RA'.  This leaves thirteen victualled for their tots. The issue per man is ⅜ of a pint [⅛ rum and ¼ water, the definition of  'grog' often referred to as 2&1] which multiplied by thirteen is 4.875 pints of grog. There were occasions when junior rates were issued with 1&1, one part rum one part water, but these were rare. When a 'Splice the Main Brace' was ordered, the rum issue was exactly the same as for the standard/normal issue. Officers were sometimes issued with rum but only when working in extremely hazardous and dangerous conditions harmful to the body and soul of the officer and way above the call of his normal duties.

* Victualled ashore as a ships company was a regular occurrence for crews of diesel submarines when away from base or depot ship and no other service accommodation was available.  In this case, officers were victualled in a four/five star hotel, senior rates in a three star hotel and junior rates in a two star hotel.  Rum was still issued and consumed in the boat before the crew left for their respective hotels for their lunch.

Now in these times, specifically from WW2 to cessation, rum was a reliable provision and no self respecting warship or naval establishment would ever run short and, sacrilege though it would be, dry.  Compare this to the lot of THE naval super star of the Boer War at the start of the 20th century, namely HMS Powerful, which incidentally ended up in Devonport as part of the group of ship's providing boys' training, which was known as the HMS Impregnable Group. Records show that her rum store ran too low to give all bonafides their tot, so the order was given that the issue would be aborted and in lieu, as a temporary expedient, a sum of money would be credited to each man registered 'G'.  This sum eventually was adopted pan navy and was given to all men over the age of 20 who elected to be 'T' [Temperance] to compensate them for the voluntary loss of a traditional privilege. Staying with the 'Powerful' as an example of naval customs, the rum issue [when they had enough onboard !] was very different to that all of you reading this page will remember. Right up to and half way through WW1 [Jutland 1916] the daily rum issue was as follows. Each man over the age of 20 was allowed ⅛ of a pint = ½ a gill : so nothing different there then. Warrant Officers [but not commissioned Warrant Officers] and Chief Petty Officers only were given neat rum.  All below, including Petty Officers, were given GROG, but GROG mixed to 3 & 1, i.e., one half of a pint in total of liquid, instead of mixed to 2 & 1 which was in total a lesser amount of liquid measuring three eights of a pint. There is no written criteria to say just how that affected those taking Grog, but I would have thought that the affect was less of a stimulating experience than 1970-type Grog was.  What is certain is that pre-Jutland ships needed to carry more fresh water than post-Jutland ships did, always assuming that other uses of fresh water had not changed!  See also this file Grog - written in 1895 by F.H. Miller

The First Sea Lord at the time of the stopping of the tot, was that delightful man Admiral of the Fleet Michael Le Fanu, commonly known to us in the Fleet as the "Chinese Admiral" when spelled 'Le Fan U'.  Because Michael had ginger coloured hair, the lower deck named him "Dry Ginger" for this act of stoppage. He had a sense of humour [and so did the lower deck] sending this valedictory [poem] signal to the Fleet:-

Personal from the First Sea Lord

Most farewell messages try
To jerk a tear from the eye
But I say to you lot
Very sad about the tot
But thank you, good luck and goodbye

It was a much sadder poem than most thought on the day it was received, because his time on earth was very short thereafter and he knew it, but we didn't.