Existing comment:
The cat-o'-nine tails was wielded by the boatswain's mate to flog crew members as punishment for serious crimes.
"About eleven o'clock, or six bells, when any of the men are in irons, or on the black list, the boatswain or mate are ordered to call all hands; the culprits are then brought forward by the master at arms.... All hands being now mustered, the captain orders the man to strip; he is then seized to a grating by the wrists and knees; his crime is then mentioned, and the prisoner may plead, but, in nineteen cases out of twenty, he is flogged for the most trifling offence or neglect..." A contemporary account by William Robinson, author of "Jack Nastyface: Memoirs of an English Seaman," first published in 1836. |