Where does the word “tonnage” come from?
It comes from “tunnage” which was a TAX imposed by Henry the Fifth of England on all wine importers.
For every ‘tun’ (1 tun = 4 hogsheads = 252 old wine gallons) of wine an importer brought into England, they had to bring in a “sheaf” of logbow staves for Henry’s Army.
(A “sheaf” was 24, more normally applied to arrows)
- Thanks Brian!
Tags: army, arrows, england, henry the fifth, sheaf, staves, tonnage, wine importers
As far as I can recall, the 63us gallon Hogshead is unique to
the US (it is an official unit of measure). The hogsheads in
15th century Europe was “a large barrel” and not a specific
measurement; that being said, hogsheads equalling 140us gallons were common for transporting spirits and the tax encouraged their almost exclusive use for shipments to England.