# BOT Lime Juice - merged threads



## Alan Rawlinson

*Lime Juice, Salt tablets, and of course, Paladrin*

Who remembers the daily ritual of lime juice, salt tablets ( for the workers) and , was it, Paladrin - anti Malaria tabs?

Some thought the lime juice was to stop you feeling randy!!


----------



## James_C

Alan,
The anti malarial tablets were called Paludrine and believe it or not are still in use today, but only it seems by shipping companies!


----------



## Ray Mac

Used to use the lime juice to clean the wooden chopping block, Salt tablets on the tables in both messroom and saloon,Paludrine tablets on tables also before and during your stay in malarial ports.

Ray


----------



## stein

Developed a taste for Rose's lime juice at sea; perfect in combination with Vodka, but nice with only water on hot summer days.


----------



## Cisco

Salt tablet dispenser on the bulkhead.... next to iced water machine...


----------



## Cisco

lime juice to stop you feeling randy? I think it has just started to work..........


----------



## Supergoods

Brocklebanks used fresh Indian limes when available, but usually well watered down in the interests of economy.
I could never take the salt tablets, salt tablet down=sick as a dog.
Ian


----------



## Ray Mac

stein said:


> Developed a taste for Rose's lime juice at sea; perfect in combination with Vodka, but nice with only water on hot summer days.



BOT Lime Juice, Rose's lime juice sold in slop chest with other cordials.(Whaaa)


----------



## waldziu

Paludrine, were on a dish in the dinning room at lunch time. Pusers limers was avalaible for the steaming crews. Puser's cheifs (sorry cooks) put sufficent salt in the food that salt tablets were not required althouth I did have them on my first ship the Carysfort in the late 60s.


----------



## jimthehat

Alan Rawlinson said:


> Who remembers the daily ritual of lime juice, salt tablets ( for the workers) and , was it, Paladrin - anti Malaria tabs?
> 
> Some thought the lime juice was to stop you feeling randy!!


Alan,
Much better than lime juice on the maplebank was the saturday tot of rum.Dont think that we apps were supposed to get it ,but the chief steward was a kind chap,and we were very popular with the abs if we gave them our tot.

jim


----------



## Alan Rawlinson

*Paludrine*



James_C said:


> Alan,
> The anti malarial tablets were called Paludrine and believe it or not are still in use today, but only it seems by shipping companies!


Hallo Jim,

Thanks for the spelling - come to think of it, Paludrine must have done a great job over the years. Sailed with a mate who had recurring Malaria, and it was not much fun...


----------



## Alan Rawlinson

*Rum*



jimthehat said:


> Alan,
> Much better than lime juice on the maplebank was the saturday tot of rum.Dont think that we apps were supposed to get it ,but the chief steward was a kind chap,and we were very popular with the abs if we gave them our tot.
> 
> jim


Crikey, Jim - I think our deck crowd would have gone haywire if they got their hands on a rum ration! Must have been a generous Master? Was it Capt Mountain or later?


----------



## lazyjohn

Never had lime juice but alway OJ or Tom Juice on the table, with Paludrin on the side. 
We used to have a help yourself box of 500 sugar coated salt tabs on the manouvering platform desk with a battered coffee pot of iced water (from the fridge flat).

Rum sounds fantastic.


----------



## John N MacDonald

Took the salt tablets once and spent the rest of the day speaking to god on the great white telephone!


----------



## lakercapt

The BOT lime juice used to be kept in the bonded locker as it had an alcohol content of 10%.
Great when mixed with Four Bells and some raw sugar.
Stopped you getting scurvy too!


----------



## woodend

Salt tablets and paludrin on the saloon table in E.D.'s. Lime juice went well with Gordons and iced water. I still have one as a lunch time drink of choice with lots of ice. I religiously took the daily paludrin but I collapsed on deck while on nights working cargo and came to in hospital in Takoradi. I was diagnosed with malaria and very well looked after. I have never had it again, luckily, so it obviously wasn't the recurring strain. There is still traces of it in my blood apparently so I was never allowed to give blood.


----------



## Klaatu83

Tradition has it that, in the old days, lime juice was dosed to British seamen in order to prevent scurvy. However, the story goes that Captains James Cook and William Bligh actually fed their crews on sour kraut for that purpose. Small wonder Bligh's crew mutinied!


----------



## jimthehat

Alan Rawlinson said:


> Crikey, Jim - I think our deck crowd would have gone haywire if they got their hands on a rum ration! Must have been a generous Master? Was it Capt Mountain or later?


Yup capt. Mountain started it off and when he was lost and capt .Thorne took over ,rum was still issued by the chief steward on a saturday morning at sea,often wondered if it was discontinued on white crew ships after 1954.

jim


----------



## gordy

Was the BOT lime juice fortified?

Memory of being sent for it by 2nd on my first deep sea watch still fresh. (Jan '67 Blue Flu's Ixion)

Chief steward mumped away saying he should have been ready for request as he knew 2nd was a big fan of it in all weathers.
He told me to come back later as it was buried away in his stores, so I returned down below thinking I'd done well bringing down 6 cold cokes.
When we did get it I was instructed on how it should be made exactly to 2nd's taste.
One teaspoonfull, six heaped teaspoons of sugar, all in a half pint china mug and stirred like a whirling dervish.
My first taste clapped my cheeks in, so I opted for the Roses, on one day consuming a whole bottle. 
Constipation was not a problem(EEK)

The bosun told me some cadets had used the BOT stuff neat in some poor girls Vodka when they ran out of Roses and she was a hospital case.


----------



## John Briggs

The lime juice was laced with bromide. That was the stuff that was meant to keep it in your trousers - never had the slightest effect.


----------



## Robert Hilton

Klaatu83 said:


> Tradition has it that, in the old days, lime juice was dosed to British seamen in order to prevent scurvy. However, the story goes that Captains James Cook and William Bligh actually fed their crews on sour kraut for that purpose. Small wonder Bligh's crew mutinied!


I heard it was James Cook who fed his crew sauerkraut. When they refused it he announced that it was for officers only. Later he issued it,
strictly rationed, to the whole crew. I can't swear that this is true, but it should be.


----------



## Binnacle

lakercapt said:


> The BOT lime juice used to be kept in the bonded locker as it had an alcohol content of 10%.


Bill, BOT lime juice was indeed kept in the bond for the reason you say. It was kept in large glass bottles perhaps about a gallon size. The cork was covered in sealing wax with the BOT stamp. In my time at sea, on British ships, refusing to take anti scorbutics was an offence under the MSA and a log book entry was reqired stating offenders name and penalty imposed. On a BTC tanker in 1946, in the focsle, our only source for coldish water was from our chattis pots which hung from the awning spars, supplemented at noon daily by a bucket of cold BOT lime juice. Happy days.


----------



## Derek Roger

In Brocklebanks when out East we always had fresh lime juice and water at Smoko . Very refreshing and and certainly helped . That included some limes in the " Panai Bucket " during watches . There was always salt tablets at the table and also a bottle of salt tablets on the desk in the engine room .

We drank lots of tea and lots and lots of water during a watch .

The fix was very simple ; If your sweat running into the mouth did not taste salty . Take a salt tablet .
The early salt tablets were terrible to take but after a year or so they provided us with tablets that had a coating and did not have a bad taste .

Only know of 1 Brocks Engineer during my period of service who lost his life to Heat Exhaustion .


----------



## notnila

Derek,taste your own sweat was the rule I learned.Don't know if that was scientifically correct but it seemed to work.


----------



## Ray Mac

jimthehat said:


> Yup capt. Mountain started it off and when he was lost and capt .Thorne took over ,rum was still issued by the chief steward on a saturday morning at sea,often wondered if it was discontinued on white crew ships after 1954.
> 
> jim


No still getting our tot in 60s on tankers I used to swop mine for cordial, did not drink when 16 year old.(Pint)

Now well(Pint)(Pint)

Ray


----------



## Alan Rawlinson

*Bromide effect..*



John Briggs said:


> The lime juice was laced with bromide. That was the stuff that was meant to keep it in your trousers - never had the slightest effect.



Hi John, Greetings from Cornwall, UK....

Thanks for the reminder. Now that we have the internet, I had a good look at the impact of bromide on humans, and it seems to be accepted that the notion of it being a sex inhibitor is false. As someone says on line, it does do this if you load it into a shell and fire it below the waist, but generally it is a calming drug that makes the recipient not want to do anything much!


----------



## tsell

Ship's lime juice - used to scrub the mess table with it when I was a peggy. Hated salt tablets though.

Taff


----------



## Eric Wallace

We used to use Roses lime juice to kill the taste of water the water they took on at Aden was putrid,remember that.


----------



## Joe C

Alan Rawlinson said:


> Who remembers the daily ritual of lime juice, salt tablets ( for the workers) and , was it, Paladrin - anti Malaria tabs?
> 
> Some thought the lime juice was to stop you feeling randy!!


I can remember the lime juice and salt tablets but anti-malaria tablets,a blank.Did they affect your memory or did we just not take them?


----------



## Alistair Macnab

*Prophylactic Medicine.....*

This is not about what you have already thought it was!

But do you remember the anti yellow fever, smallpox and cholera shots admininstered by that stalwart Bank Line physician in Calcutta, Doctor Ganghuly? Also the individual pink health record books that were kept up-to-date and resided in the Master's drawer along with the discharge books?

Ganghuli was a former surgeon aboard one of the white ships. In my time the surgeon on "Inchanga" was Doctor Roy. His son was the Purser and the Writer was also a Bengali whom Wilkie Rutherford had christened "Brown Owl" because of his large glasses. He was regularly greeted with "Hoot! Hoot!" 

Those of us who remember Wilkie know he had a nickname for everyone which in my case was "Hamish". Alan Macgregor the Second Mate was called "Willie". Both of us carried our adopted names throughout our Bank Line careers! As a matter of fact, I wanted to name my first boy child Hamish but his Brooklyn-born mother demurred. We settled on James!

Its a strange world!

But getting back to prophylactic medicine.....

Once our passenger register was reduced to 12, Macgregor, as Second Mate, became the keeper of the keys of the medicine locker on "Inchanga" which, of course, was a much more elaborate stash of medical goodies that was usual for a Bank Boat. There were pills that modern day kids consider old hat that cured hangovers and permitted 24-hour play and work combinations with no apparent side effects until one morning one of the Apprentices dropped down in a dead faint with a very low heartbeat. We all got a rollicking from Captain Gale who was told by Ganghuli what was happening. Youthful bad habits are not a recent phenomenon!


----------



## jimthehat

Alistair Macnab said:


> This is not about what you have already thought it was!
> 
> But do you remember the anti yellow fever, smallpox and cholera shots admininstered by that stalwart Bank Line physician in Calcutta, Doctor Ganghuly? Also the individual pink health record books that were kept up-to-date and resided in the Master's drawer along with the discharge books?
> 
> Ganghuli was a former surgeon aboard one of the white ships. In my time the surgeon on "Inchanga" was Doctor Roy. His son was the Purser and the Writer was also a Bengali whom Wilkie Rutherford had christened "Brown Owl" because of his large glasses. He was regularly greeted with "Hoot! Hoot!"
> 
> Those of us who remember Wilkie know he had a nickname for everyone which in my case was "Hamish". Alan Macgregor the Second Mate was called "Willie". Both of us carried our adopted names throughout our Bank Line careers! As a matter of fact, I wanted to name my first boy child Hamish but his Brooklyn-born mother demurred. We settled on James!
> 
> Its a strange world!
> 
> But getting back to prophylactic medicine.....
> 
> Once our passenger register was reduced to 12, Macgregor, as Second Mate, became the keeper of the keys of the medicine locker on "Inchanga" which, of course, was a much more elaborate stash of medical goodies that was usual for a Bank Boat. There were pills that modern day kids consider old hat that cured hangovers and permitted 24-hour play and work combinations with no apparent side effects until one morning one of the Apprentices dropped down in a dead faint with a very low heartbeat. We all got a rollicking from Captain Gale who was told by Ganghuli what was happening. Youthful bad habits are not a recent phenomenon!


 My nickname from Wilkie was haggis.Do not remember the docs name on Isipingo,but when we were in calcutta drydock and the doc and i were sitting at breakfast,somebody came running in and said that the 2/e had fallen in to the dock ,we dashed out ,the dock took one look and refused to go down ,it was the mate (bert lynch) and myself who dashed down to see what we could do,but the poor chap was dead.
I dont know when the ship was downrated but the doc was on board the whole two years that I was there 57-59

jim


----------



## Joe C

Alistair Macnab said:


> This is not about what you have already thought it was!
> 
> But do you remember the anti yellow fever, smallpox and cholera shots admininstered by that stalwart Bank Line physician in Calcutta, Doctor Ganghuly? Also the individual pink health record books that were kept up-to-date and resided in the Master's drawer along with the discharge books?
> 
> Ganghuli was a former surgeon aboard one of the white ships. In my time the surgeon on "Inchanga" was Doctor Roy. His son was the Purser and the Writer was also a Bengali whom Wilkie Rutherford had christened "Brown Owl" because of his large glasses. He was regularly greeted with "Hoot! Hoot!"
> 
> Those of us who remember Wilkie know he had a nickname for everyone which in my case was "Hamish". Alan Macgregor the Second Mate was called "Willie". Both of us carried our adopted names throughout our Bank Line careers! As a matter of fact, I wanted to name my first boy child Hamish but his Brooklyn-born mother demurred. We settled on James!
> 
> Its a strange world!
> 
> But getting back to prophylactic medicine.....
> 
> Once our passenger register was reduced to 12, Macgregor, as Second Mate, became the keeper of the keys of the medicine locker on "Inchanga" which, of course, was a much more elaborate stash of medical goodies that was usual for a Bank Boat. There were pills that modern day kids consider old hat that cured hangovers and permitted 24-hour play and work combinations with no apparent side effects until one morning one of the Apprentices dropped down in a dead faint with a very low heartbeat. We all got a rollicking from Captain Gale who was told by Ganghuli what was happening. Youthful bad habits are not a recent phenomenon!


I'll never forget the wild dash across Calcutta in a taxi to be given the yellow fever jab.We seemed to be bouncing off everything in our path including the odd cow,very dodgy!
The jabs never affected me, including a smallpox vaccination in Panama which involved the doctor? breaking the glass container,scratching my arm with the jagged end then blowing the serum on to the wound!
However when I ended up in the RAF they repeated the treatment and I ended up with an arm the size of a baloon,only to be posted to Lincolnshire!


----------



## 8575

*Salt Tablets*

Salt tablets - probably why I'm on hypertension medication these days!


----------



## Hamish Mackintosh

Remember the pint glass of lime juice we got in the "shack"at the end of the jetty in Mena Alamadi(?)


----------



## guinnessmick

Hamish Mackintosh said:


> Remember the pint glass of lime juice we got in the "shack"at the end of the jetty in Mena Alamadi(?)


when i was on the swan river the chief cook used to make up the bot limejuice i dont know what he added to it but it really tasted ok and everyone drank it and asked for more


----------



## kauvaka

BP tankers late 50s early 60s, lime juice in a tin container similar in size and appearance to a watering can without the shower head on the spout hanging on a hook under the vents on the boiler flat. Salt tablets, sometimes chocolate covered on the messroom tables. Only time a tot was issued was after a boiler clean as we steamed around the Cape at reduced speed.


----------



## ART6

I vividly remember the one gallon glass bottles of BOT lime juice -- I developed quite a taste for it. Preferred it to the branded varieties, which doesn't say much for my taste buds I guess.

We engineers always took a salt tablet when going on watch in the tropics as in those days there were no unmanned engine rooms or air conditioned control rooms, and in a steam turbine ship it got very hot indeed on the plates. The tablets were, I remember, rather like white Smarties.


----------



## Chris Isaac

The other standard issues not mentioned so far........
Prevax and Dreadnoughts............. god bless 'em


----------



## Donald McGhee

Dreadnoughts! (If they are what I think they were) Now there's a blast from the past! I loved the instructions, which were hilarious, but the nozzle bit was the part where it separated the men from the boys. To squeeze or not to squeeze and take the risk? That was the question!

Paludrine was horrible if tasted, crunched one once by mistake! My old Man/Ma took it for years in West Africa and he reckons it made him and my mother temporarily sterile, so when sister came along 11 years after me he reckoned it was the paludrine wearing off finally. A likely story!

Heres to salt tablets, paludrine, lime juice, dreadnoughts, black draught and BOT condoms with the SWL stamped on them (joking).

(Pint)


----------



## LaFlamme

Alistair Macnab said:


> This is not about what you have already thought it was!
> 
> But do you remember the anti yellow fever, smallpox and cholera shots admininstered by that stalwart Bank Line physician in Calcutta, Doctor Ganghuly? Also the individual pink health record books that were kept up-to-date and resided in the Master's drawer along with the discharge books?]
> 
> I sailed on ships flying different convenience flags (one was even under the English flag), but most of the crews were Canadians. I remember well the salt tablets, but nothing else. Except cranberry juice at times!! Go figure, as they say nowadays! Our health record books were yellow, with some black bands on the cover; I still have mine somewhere. We used to make a lot of trips to the West Indies and the Gulf of Mexico, mostly on steam powered vessels. Us, the deck crew, had our quarters on the main deck, right above the engine room, and I never worked on a ship that had air conditioning!
> 
> When in port, tied up to load or unload, it was so hot in our cabins that we could hardly sleep. Anyone remember the funnels that we would stick through the portholes in the hope of catching a little fresh air? To this day I can still withstand a lot of heat without complaining!


----------



## trotterdotpom

"English flag"? Look out la Flamme!

John T


----------



## LaFlamme

trotterdotpom said:


> "English flag"? Look out la Flamme!
> 
> John T


Sorry, sorry, hahaha. I guess I should have written British flag? Hey, what do you expect from a Canadian, we of the former colony.


----------



## Jeff Taylor

FWIW: In the States Roses's Lime Juice and vodka=a gimlet. Delightful but it can rot your stomach before you get drunk on it!


----------



## david freeman

How many of you red sea tigers remember the BOT Lime Juice and salt tablets for the ER Staff. How did other fleets other than the British mange in the Redsea.
Happy days too of the Prok and Beans inspector at UK Ports. Memeories


----------



## Pat Kennedy

Roses Lime juice, issued to all in BF ships once the ship cleared Suez outbound, as were salt tablets.
The lime juice was supposed to be very good for cleaning brass, but I can confirm from personal experience, that it was absolutely useless.
Pat(Thumb)


----------



## Ray Mac

Lime juice great for cleaning the chopping blocks, ie Butchers Block in galley or in prep room off fridges, also bread boards in pantry and messrooms.

Ray


----------



## Jacko123

Used undiluted it was good for scrubbing/cleaning pantry bread-boards. Never heard of it cleaning brass though. Had a second steward that swore by it as a shampoo. He was a bit of a nutter though, went adrift in Kharg Island. I personally hated the stuff, I stuck with Rose's Lime Juice. Still do.

EDIT::: Simulpost Ray (Burned Toast)


----------



## Ron Stringer

Jacko123 said:


> He was a bit of a nutter though, went adrift in Kharg Island.


You could think of many better places to go adrift! (Jester)


----------



## mikeg

Heard that you can clean brass with either Grapefruit juice or Milk (the lactic acid in milk does the trick), especially if you can soak the item for about 20 mins) - never tried either myself though...


----------



## Jacko123

Ron Stringer said:


> You could think of many better places to go adrift! (Jester)


Something to do with a rather effeminate messman on another BP Tanker.


----------



## makko

I always steered clear of the salt tablets - The company doc recommended additional salt sprinkled on food if one felt the need. I used to recommend fruit with a squeeze of lemon and a light sprinkling of salt, the Mexican way (try it sometime, its very refreshing!). We had a can of lifeboat lemon juice powder - We used to make it up to take to Rugby matches. Without sugar it was quite foul and didn't do your tooth enamel much good!
Rgds.
Dave


----------



## alan ward

*Gin and Lime*

I blame an old PCO Alec Bannerman for my downfall,he showed me a drink that on an un-air conditioned Clan boat was a killer.Tall glass,large lump of ice,enormous gin,lime juice filled to the top with chiiled water.Drink until you`ve had enough,fall over repeat next day.


----------



## 185Queens

*Another variation with lime juice and gin…*



alan ward said:


> I blame an old PCO Alec Bannerman for my downfall,he showed me a drink that on an un-air conditioned Clan boat was a killer.Tall glass,large lump of ice,enormous gin,lime juice filled to the top with chiiled water.Drink until you`ve had enough,fall over repeat next day.


Anyone remember a Clan Line/UC PCO called Noel Proctor - he introduced me to Gin, Roses Lime, ice and water - his variation was to leave out the Roses! Thank goodness we had Tanqueray Gin!
I can also remember something about him and playing Flight Deck games… can anyone remember anything more about that?


----------



## Michael Taylor

I remember well our 1100 lime juice during my Ellerman days. The most precious part was the ice "chippings". As Apprentices seems we got just the scraps. In addition to daily salt tablets many times at night work in the Gulf it was not unknown to take a hand full of salt from a box in the galley and lick that. I wonder what the Doctors would have to say these days?


----------



## lakercapt

Think there was a previous thread about this subject.
The BOT lime juice I remember was a bonded item as it contained alcohol and there used to be an entry in the official log "anti scabotics issued" when it was handed out by the ch.steward. Some got a tot of rum!!!!.


----------



## mikeg

Never heard the term anti scabotics before, sounds like an android with eczema.


----------



## Mad Landsman

The word is antiscorbutic. 

The medical name for scurvy is scorbutus. - deficiency of ascorbic acid (Vitamin C).

Lime juice was adopted by the Admiralty originally, not because it was better that other citrus fruits but because it was cheaper; Being grown in British Colonies and not imported from potential enemies.


----------



## alan ward

Previously mentioned dreadnoughts,do you mean those kits with the rough rectangles of cloth impregnated with some disinfectant and the small tube of oint ment you jammed up your Japs eye?After a meeting in Takoradi with some fragrant young thing with a haircut like a handgrenade,I visited Harry the Chief Steward to obtain such a kit.He reared up like a man posessed and threw me 3 or 4 saying`If you like the Mammies I`d better get you a few`a man of great tact,diplomacy and style.It certainly encouraged me to seek him out when in need.


----------



## lakercapt

Mad Landsman said:


> The word is antiscorbutic.
> 
> The medical name for scurvy is scorbutus. - deficiency of ascorbic acid (Vitamin C).
> 
> Lime juice was adopted by the Admiralty originally, not because it was better that other citrus fruits but because it was cheaper; Being grown in British Colonies and not imported from potential enemies.


Thanks for correcting my miss spelling.


----------



## Mad Landsman

lakercapt said:


> Thanks for correcting my miss spelling.


Happy to help - The way you spelt it is the way you heard it, and maybe the way the other guy spelt it anyway.


----------



## trotterdotpom

I never heard of the Limejuice containing alcohol until I put it there. Not bad with gin as a matter of fact. Very healthy.

John T

PS Dare I point out that Lakercapt misspelled "misspelling". Not to worry, even I do it sometimes.


----------



## lakercapt

The BOT lime juice was preserved with alcohol and that was why it was in the bonded stores. Some silly customs regulation. Course this was in the late 50's so many Members might not go back that far.


----------



## Old Janner

BOT Lime juice was that exactly, part of the BOT stocks to be held on Foreign going British Flag vessels.
Alongside the wooden pickle barrel, Pickling salt, Ice cream salt, all the items written into the Ships articles for display in the mess room.
Also daily rashioning scales "if you were put on "your Whack"
Normally under the control of the Chief Steward, not always kept in the Bond due to lack of space.
'Limer's' if diluted correctly and chilled was a great drink, but it did kill the Gin!
Was also used for Bleaching wooden cutting boards

Spence. OJ


----------

