ABSTRACT
Admiral Edward Vernon. The fact that he never received any honours indicates that he was an awkward cuss. An MP for many years, he used his position to attack anyone whose views offended him, usually in an outspoken manner which ensured that the offence was returned. He is known for having introduced the watering of the seaman’s rum ration, thereafter known as ‘grog’, from his nickname ‘Old Grog’, derived from the grogram boatcloak he wore. But he was also a competent and experienced practitioner of combined operations (when he didn’t quarrel with his Army counterpart), and an early and forceful exponent of the ‘blue water’ school of strategy followed by Britain for much of the eighteenth century.
