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Punishment
Was there such a thing as the Pirate Code? And what happened when it was broken? (Click EasyEdit to add details to this page!)
Pirate Justice | Definition & Details |
| Walking the plank | Sorry, never happened. No actual evidence of "walking a plank". |
| flogging | By far the most common punishment aboard any ship. The victim would be bound to an upright section of grating, over the capstan head, or sometimes even over a gun barrel, and subjected to lashes from a braided leather whip. Often the whip used had multiple thongs, such as the infamous cat-o-nine-tails. Particularly cruel captains or bosuns would use whips with small pieces of flint braided into the thongs for extra damage. The number of lashes inflicted depended on the severity of the crime and/or the cruelty of the captain. The expression 'letting the cat out of the bag" actually originates from the practice of keeping the cat-o-nine in a sack and ritually bringing it out for punishments. For exceptionally extreme crimes the British Royal Navy had an even more severe form of the flogging punishment - "flogging around the fleet". The punisment would be administered in port, or at sea if a fleet of ships was gathered. The victim would be put in a row boat and would be continually flogged as the boat was rowed in a circle all the way around the fleet. Many of the victims of this punishment did not survive. |
| keel-hauling | The victim was bound with two long lines, one from the hands and one from the feet. One of the lines was allowed to pass under the ship from the bow to the stern. That line was hauled on, dragging the victim under the ship along the keel until he came to the stern where he was hauled aboard again. At best the victim would be horribly lacerated by the barnacles that had accumulated on the hull of the ship. At worst, if the victim couldn't hold his breath long enough, he'd drown. |
| Hanging | The Hemp Fandango. A short drop and a quick stop. The fate that ultimately awaited many of history's pirates. Hanging was by far the most common punshment inflicted by nations on captured pirates. Most would be brought to the nearest port for trial and public hanging, but some were summarily executed aboard their captor's ship - hanged from the yard arm. The corpses of hanged pirates would often be left on display, hanging from coastal cliffs or at the entrance to ports as a warning to other pirates. There is little evidence, however, that hanging was a ever a common punishment inflicted by pirates themselves on each other or on their victims. Pirates tended to prefer more... inventive punishments. |
| Marooning | A common punshment among pirates, usually inflicted for crimes such as theft from a crewmate or failure to render all booty over for equal division among the crew. A pirate sentenced to marooning would be left alone on an uninhabited island, or a stretch of coastline far away from any civilization. If the victim's crewmates were merciful, they might leave the marooned pirate with a few kegs of water, some food, and/or a weapon. In rare cases, if the crime was not that severe, a crew might show additional mercy and return for the marooned pirate a month or two later. |
| Setting adrift | |
| Torture | Some pirates, like Henry Morgan, were known for the civility they showed to the prisoners from the ships they captured. Others, however, like Blackbeard and Roche Braziliano, had a reputation for inflicting cruel tortures on the luckless individuals they captured. Beatings, cutting off of limbs, ducking in water until the victim nearly drowns - these are some of the tortures that have been documented as having been inflicted by pirates upon their prisoners. But pirates weren't the only ones to engage in torture. From the 1400s through even to the 1700s, the Spanish considered any English sailor they captured to be a heretic and a pirate (whether the sailor or ship had ever actually engaged in real acts of piracy or not). The unfortunate English prisoners would usually be turned over to the infamous tender mercies of the Spanish Inquisition. Those who managed to avoid being handed over to the Inquisition would usually be sold as slaves. |
See also: Pirate Glossary | Pirate Fact & Fiction
Blackhand_Sam |
Latest page update: made by Blackhand_Sam
, Jun 3 2007, 2:45 PM EDT
(about this update
About This Update
Edited by Blackhand_Sam
21 words added 2 words deleted view changes - complete history) |
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