Sucking The MonkeyWhen Admiral Nelson was killed at the battle of Trafalgar in 1805, his body was pr

Sucking The Monkey

When Admiral Nelson was killed at the battle of Trafalgar in 1805, his body was preserved in a barrel of rum or brandy so that is could be transported back to England. Well, it was first transported via Gibraltar where it was transferred to a wine-filled lead-lined coffin, but anyway…

Upon the Royal Navy’s triumphant stop-off in Gibraltar, the barrel was allegedly found to be empty of liquids, the contents having been drained through little holes in the base of the barrel with straws, drunk by his fellow sailors. This weirdness coined the term ‘Nelson’s Blood’ as an alternative to rum/brandy and also terms such as ‘sucking the monkey’ and ‘tapping the admiral’ to described the process of drinking rum straight from the barrel with a straw. 

Theimage above is purportedly a small phial of rum or brandy saved from the barrel. Written on the bottle are the words ‘Part of the liquor in which the body of Lord Nelson was preserved - after the Battle of Trafalgar.’

I seriously doubt many aspects of this tale and the sources are all over the place but I though it was a fun little Oddment nonetheless.