On the other hand, if the ginger ale is mixed with enough Canadian Club (a highball, my parents' favorite mixed drink), you might not care...
[Actually, seasick and drunk would NOT be a happy combo.]
Steve
Turns out GABA-ergic drugs like alcohol, benzodiazepines and phenobarb, LOW DOSE, might make motion perception slightly easier for those without "sealegs"
So yes, drunk bad for motion sickness, but in a pinch a small dose might be fine, particularly if not habituated to those meds, not dehydrated etc.
I tried nailing down some more specific apothecarial uses of alcohol for sea sickness from British Naval Surgeon accounts. Particularly given rum rations in "Ships of the line" were standard, daily, from the 1860's up till the 1970's. They used rum for everything, tarantula bites, seasickness, resuscitations from drowning etc. Plus the rum and lime juice ration was good for scurvy prevention and boosted morale. A little hit of booze was probably useful in "lifting the spirits" of a press-ganged teen and pre-teen crew....
But most of the apothecarial use, independent of say anesthesia, seems kinda marginal.
My favorite grog +ships story of all time is the Mercury Vapor poisoning on HMS Triumph way back in 1810. See there was a big hurricane in the bay of Cadiz, the Spanish ships at anchor in the bay were overpowered by the storm, their anchor lines couldn't hold and nearly 50 ships sank in the shallow waters of the East Bay. The Brits, who at that time were blockaded in Cadiz, and knowing that the Spanish ships were full of stuff, snuck out to salvage prizes at high tide under the cover of night. The French, who controlled the eastern shore tried to do the same, but with mimed boats and armed only with accordions and berets had a hard time of it. The Brits made off with all kinds of stuff, though the biggest prize was the barrels and bladders full of liquid mercury stored on the wrecked Spanish vessel,
La Purisma Conception...
Back then Elemental Mercury was used for mirror gilding and hat forming. It was super valuable. It wasn't an exactly kind element for brains though. (See the Mad Hatter...). Anyways, the kid-sailor Brits get the mercury back on the HMS Triumph and HMS Phipps. And they try and store it. The lower ranks of sailors know its value, and in the absence of meaningful currency and yet the love of Rum, they rupture the bladders full of mercury, store it in various hidey-holes in ship and, when on shore leave, try and buy more grog with handfuls of mercury smuggled out. They're partying around the Garrison on the mole of Cadiz, trying to buy booze with a handful of quicksilver. I mean these guys weren't too bright, but they were definitely smarter than the French.
Liquid Mercury stores poorly in handkerchiefs and pockets. It leaks out. And back on ship, plenty of it did just that. It drips into the woodwork, runs through decking, makes it's way through the ship, through the bread stores. And it turns to gas too. They're inhaling a proverbial nightmarish vapor of elemental Mercury. Mercury does that, vaporize that is, fairly easily. If you get a job in the Cinnabar mines of Idria, I would rethink that commitment on account of that issue. Same for Artisanal old-school mirror or hat making.
Anyways these sailor children, they start going a little crazy on account of below decks on a ship of the line there is virtually no air movement, particularly when anchored up. They start shaking, getting a little and then a lot crazier, their teeth start loosening, and for some they fall out. Their British Teeth- I know this is hard to believe- get
way worse, Like think end-stage Shane McGowan teeth... The Triumph basically turns into a nightmarish ghoul fest of sailor zombies. It's worse than the Mary Celeste 'cos the sailors are still there and are the living dead....
At least until Doc Plowman figures it out, that canny ship Surgeon sets some of the sailcloth into a funnel to send air into the orlop and mandates a thorough ship-wide clean. He's got it figured out, score one for occupational health and observational studies! I mean it's frankly right up there with Lind's Treatise of the Scurvy in terms of medical history as far as I am concerned....
They bring HMS Triumph and HMS Phipps to Gibraltar, bore holes in the hull to let the mercury drain out, they throw out the contaminated shingle ballast. The Triumph, at least, is towed back to Plymouth and set no longer as a ship of a line, but instead as a prison hulk. So out there, particularly in the genealogy of deported prisoners from Britain to the USA or Australia, are probably some lineages of folks already set for low IQ on account of mercury poisoning... That is if their toothless, shaky, ghostly ex-con vibe was even able find a willing partner....
Still...
Smarter than the French for sure...
