Yesterday, we posted about four barrels of rum from Lunenburg’s Ironworks Distillery which are being carried around the globe by the barque Picton Castle on its seventh circumnavigation.  The sea voyage is expected to nicely age the rum.  Of course, distilled spirits being sent to sea to mellow and age is nothing new. William Bunting reminded me of a passage from his excellent book, Live Yankees, the Sewalls and their Ships  involving rum and politics.

Arthur Sewall, in addition to being a shipbuilder and ship owner, was also a bank president, director of a railroad, and the Democratic Party vice presidential candidate in 1896 on William Jennings Bryan’s first run for president. There is a story about how Arthur managed to acquire the seat on the presidential ticket and it involves ocean-aged rum. From Live Yankees: 

Arthur Sewall sent barrels of rum (and perhaps also whiskey) to sea to be slowly rocked to aged perfection. It was said that these barrels were built into a new ship’s transom, to be removed when the ship was opened up for her seven-year survey. According to the story, Arthur thoughtfully brought such a barrel to the convention at Chicago so that the Maine delegation could properly entertain other delegates, and in gratitude, Arthur was given the second place on the ticket.

There is a record of a number of barrels of Arthur’s rum going to sea in Sewall ships. Captain Baker, aboard the John Rosenfeld at San Francisco in November 1886 wrote: “That bbl. [barrel] of W. I. [West India] rum still lives. Think it must be very up by this time.” And in January, after the Rosenfeld was wrecked, Baker wrote: “I have shipped by the Sterling the barrel of rum in good order & condition & charged Goodwin to see to it in NY & forward it on to Bath. It ought to be good by this time.”

In November 1893 Captain Robert Graham of the ship W. F. Babcock, arrived at Philadelphia, wrote Arthur, who had requested the shipment to Bath of the rum barrels sequestered aboard the Babcock:

The three barrels of rum are on board, and the last time I saw them, they were in perfect condition. Have had them stowed in lazarette and walled in with three thickness of three-inch planks thoroughly spiked to prevent their being tampered with.

In September 1896 Captain Baker shipped Arthur a barrel of seasoned rum from the four-masted bark Kenilworth while at New York. Perhaps that was a replacement for the barrel that allegedly went to Chicago!

 To read our review of Live Yankees, the Sewalls and their Ships, click here.