Getting back to the booze, does anyone know the strength of these alcoholic drinks that sailors apparently imbibed with such reckless abandon? I have heard of something called 'small beer', which has become part of a well known phrase or saying for instance. That suggests to me that there is a possibility that the drinks were of lower strength than we are used to today.

Of course, since the water was so bad they may have been boiling off the alcohol by using it for cooking. No, seriously.