Episode Details

On May 6, 2023, hours before his coronation, King Charles III sent a joking message to former shipmates of HMS Bronington, the vessel he once commanded: splice the main brace. This episode traces how that order began as one of the most dangerous jobs on a square rigged warship. The main brace, the longest line in the running rigging, controlled the angle of the yards, and enemy gunners aimed high to shoot it away and leave a ship unable to turn. A knot or short splice would jam in the wooden blocks, so the boatswain chose his most skilled able seamen to weave a long splice in heavy tarred hemp while under fire. They were rewarded with extra rum, and the boatswain took a sip from each man's ration.

Over time the phrase became a fleet wide order for an extra eighth of a pint of rum to mark victories, royal births, and weddings, tracked in ship's books where G meant grog, T meant temperance with three pence a day instead, and UA meant underage. Officers lost their daily rum in 1881, so for decades the order was the only time they could legally be issued it aboard ship. The daily tot ended on Black Tot Day in 1970, and today only the King, a member of the Royal Family, or the Admiralty Board can give the order in Britain.

• The U.S. Navy used the order in 1845 as a tamer substitute for rowdy crossing the line ceremonies.
• The skipper of the submarine USS Barb marked five sinkings in 1944 with cake and shots of rotgut whiskey, then smuggled 24 cases of beer aboard for the next patrol.
• King George VI ordered it in 1949 for HMS Amethyst after the Yangtze Incident.
• The order for Prince William's birth on June 21, 1982 came one week after the Falklands War ended.
• In 1932 the Prince of Wales paired it with the signal mend and make clothes, meaning a half day holiday, for the Mediterranean Fleet.