A desciption of 17th Century Punishment in the R.N

1. Another Short Visit to HMS Victory “ Not enough room to swing a cat” Derived from the punishment of ‘flogging’ in the Royal Navy Some text has been taken from ‘The Black Ship’ by Dudley Pope

2. The man to be punished would be tied hands and feet to a grating, and his shirt removed. The whole crew would be present to witness the punishment. The man’s back would be struck by a ‘cat’ made up of 9 lengths of heavy cord, each up to a metre long. It was said after a few strokes of the cat, the man’s back resembled ‘chopped liver’ In order to carry out the punishment. The Boatswain had to have sufficient room to ‘swing the cat’ in order to apply the maximum force. Hence the term ‘Not enough room to swing a cat’

3. The punishment was described thus:- “ after the two or three strokes, “ the pain in my lungs was more severe, I thought, than the pain in my back. I felt as if I would burst in the internal parts of my body……I put my tongue between my teeth, held it there, and bit it in almost two pieces. What with the blood from my tongue, and my lips, which I had also bitten, and the blood from my lungs, or some other internal part, ruptured by the writhing agony, I was almost choked and became black in the face.” An eyewitness said that after two dozen lashes, “the lacerated back looks inhuman; it resembles roasted meat burnt nearly black before a scorching fire”

4. The worst possible punishment with the ‘cat’ was a “Flogging Round The Fleet”. For a really serious crime, say Mutiny or Striking an Officer. A man would be tied to a crucifix in a ship’s boat, he would then be taken to each ship in the assembled Fleet and given a specified number of ‘strokes of the cat’ alongside each ship. As it was possible that there could be up to 20 or 30 ships in an assembled Fleet, he could receive over 300 strokes, few men survived this punishment. Those that did, were broken men, and said that “They would rather have been hung from the highest yard-arm rather than undergo a flogging around the Fleet”

5. Another ‘lower deck’ punishment with a ‘cat’ would be ‘running the gauntlet’ . This was used for someone who had transgressed on the lower deck, something against his own kind. Remember that over 500 ‘lived’ on the Lower Gun-deck. Each would be given 3 lengths of strong cord, they were usually knotted at the ends to add to the effect.. The men were arranged in two circles one inside the other around the gun-deck. The ‘offender’ was made to pass between the two rows of men, held back by the Master at Arms holding a sword to his chest to prevent him passing to quickly. Each crew member could ‘lash’ him as many times as possible as he passed…… Watch this space for more everyday sayings