FAREWELL TO GROG.
A little ditty written by Paymaster Casper Schenck of the USS Portsmouth in "honor" of a section in the Naval Appropriations Bill of 14 July 1862 that forever discontinued the grog ration that circulated about the Navy at the time. The tune to this song is the old British drinking song "Come Landlord Fill the Flowing Bowl."
FAREWELL TO GROG.
Wardroom of the U.S.S. Portsmouth.
Time - August 31, 1862.
Officer sings:
Oh! messmates, pass the bottle round,
Our time is short, remember;
For our grog must stop, our spirits drop,
On the first day of September.
Farewell, old rye! 'tis a sad, sad word,
But alas it must be spoken ;
The ruby cup must be given up,
And the demijohn be broken!
Yet memory oft will backward turn,
And dwell with fondness partial
On the days when gin was not a sin,
Nor cocktails brought courts-martial.
Jack's happy days will soon be past,
To return again, no, never,
For they've raised his pay five cents a day
And stopped his grog forever.
(The boatswain's mate pipes, "ALL HANDS SPLICE THE MAIN BRACE!")
All hands to splice the main brace call,
But splice it now in sorrow,
For the spirit-room key will be laid away
FOREVER, on the morrow."