When the abuse of 'Booze' caused a crackdown by the Navy.

(and Senior Rates were the chief offenders)

Written by Godfrey Dykes

© RN Communications Branch Museum/Library

  Excessive drinking and the abuse of alcohol had always been a problem in the Royal Navy. There was a time in the 18th and 19th centuries when the navy plied its sailors with what we today would consider enormous amounts of alcohol. This was done for several reasons, some of them being to make the sailors aggressive in battle and whilst doing extremely physical tasks; to help ease the pain of aching or wounded bodies; to make their food more palatable; to supplement their rather poor pay, and to compensate for their dreadful austere conditions of Service and living accommodation.

  The problem with alcohol reached a peak in the late 1960s when many sailors consumed huge amounts of booze when ashore and were still mildly inebriated (or affected) whilst on duty the next day and the proverbial rum-rat was ubiquitous throughout the Fleet.

  The Captain of HMS Bristol, often a flagship for either of the FOF's (Flag Officer Flotilla) and therefore a Flag Captain, which was based on Portsmouth, decided that enough was enough in his ship.

  He proposed a system which became known as the PINK CHIT system and dated from 1970, which would single out those most affected by this abuse. The system, primarily designed for the OOD/OOW but yet was used by others in positions of responsibility employing ratings (senior and junior), was a document readily available in the OOD turn-over pack. It was completed when the OOD/OOW recognised what he thought was an over intoxicated rating, irrespective of how the rating conducted himself once onboard. The form below completes the story for you. The Form Pro Forma was a page to be found in all C's-in-C and FO's Port Standing Orders in every Command around the world, and all ships were tasked to copy this page manually and to produce the pages in bulk to be used by the ship's officers.

  This particular form comes from the Petty Officers Leadership School at HMS Royal Arthur, Corsham, Wiltshire and is the personal possession of an Instructor Lieutenant Royal Navy. However, I have to say that the person who typed this might have been a little tipsy himself, for his spelling (typo errors) and his mistakes (ignored and clumsily corrected) are ubiquitous. Never mind, the message is clear for all that!

See also The Naval Tot - The Last Card Clip