Decidedly Grim

Today’s Unhallowed Yet Truly Morbid Fact!

The British Royal Navy was not established until the 17th century but the practice of flogging aboard royal fighting ships or armed privateers was of long standing.  The naval ‘cat o’ nine tails’ was made from a piece of rope, about 5 ft. in length, and as thick as a man’s wrist.  The last 20 inches was separated into strands, each twisted tightly, and knotted at several points along its length.  The offender was tied to one of the gratings that covered the hatches, which was secured against the ship’s side.  A 19th century writer reported:

In the Army, the drummer who flogs stands on one spot, and delivers the lash without moving his position, his arm alone giving force to the blow; but in the Navy, the boatswain’s mate, who has this duty to perform, stands full two strides from the delinquent; he ‘combs out the cat,’ as it is termed, by running his fingers through the strands, and separating them from each other, after every lash; then waving it over his head, he takes a step forward, and, with an inflexion of his body that give his whole strength to the operation, delivers the stroke at the full sweep of his arm.  ’Tis a severe punishment thus; and I do not think any man could stand nine dozen as I have seen it ‘laid in’.  An unhallowed torture it is – bad as the rack of bygone times; and to the man that deserved such a punishment, hanging would be a more merciful dispensation.

Culled from: The History Of Torture

Facts