{"id":"01KG8AMFD0YPG4TX6JJNCDGEWA","cid":"bafkreifbkqdt3ffufe5c2xyhlp2u2lnzy2zurn76o27utvbcgxv4eaz3f4","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":14255,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.278Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","start_line":14193,"text":"the mode in which punishment is inflicted, in cases of flogging through\r\nthe fleet. But as in numerous other instances, the incidental\r\naggravations of this penalty are indirectly covered by other clauses in\r\nthe Articles of War: one of which authorises the authorities of a\r\nship—in certain indefinite cases—to correct the guilty “_according to\r\nthe usages of the sea-service_.”\r\n\r\nOne of these “usages” is the following:\r\n\r\nAll hands being called “to witness punishment” in the ship to which the\r\nculprit belongs, the sentence of the court-martial condemning him is\r\nread, when, with the usual solemnities, a portion of the punishment is\r\ninflicted. In order that it shall not lose in severity by the slightest\r\nexhaustion in the arm of the executioner, a fresh boatswain’s mate is\r\ncalled out at every dozen.\r\n\r\nAs the leading idea is to strike terror into the beholders, the\r\ngreatest number of lashes is inflicted on board the culprit’s own ship,\r\nin order to render him the more shocking spectacle to the crews of the\r\nother vessels.\r\n\r\nThe first infliction being concluded, the culprit’s shirt is thrown\r\nover him; he is put into a boat—the Rogue’s March being played\r\nmeanwhile—and rowed to the next ship of the squadron. All hands of that\r\nship are then called to man the rigging, and another portion of the\r\npunishment is inflicted by the boatswain’s mates of that ship. The\r\nbloody shirt is again thrown over the seaman; and thus he is carried\r\nthrough the fleet or squadron till the whole sentence is inflicted.\r\n\r\nIn other cases, the launch—the largest of the boats—is rigged with a\r\nplatform (like a headsman’s scaffold), upon which halberds, something\r\nlike those used in the English army, are erected. They consist of two\r\nstout poles, planted upright. Upon the platform stand a Lieutenant, a\r\nSurgeon a Master-at-arms, and the executioners with their “cats.” They\r\nare rowed through the fleet, stopping at each ship, till the whole\r\nsentence is inflicted, as before.\r\n\r\nIn some cases, the attending surgeon has professionally interfered\r\nbefore the last lash has been given, alleging that immediate death must\r\nensue if the remainder should be administered without a respite. But\r\ninstead of humanely remitting the remaining lashes, in a case like\r\nthis, the man is generally consigned to his cot for ten or twelve days;\r\nand when the surgeon officially reports him capable of undergoing the\r\nrest of the sentence, it is forthwith inflicted. Shylock must have his\r\npound of flesh.\r\n\r\nTo say, that after being flogged through the fleet, the prisoner’s back\r\nis sometimes puffed up like a pillow; or to say that in other cases it\r\nlooks as if burned black before a roasting fire; or to say that you may\r\ntrack him through the squadron by the blood on the bulwarks of every\r\nship, would only be saying what many seamen have seen.\r\n\r\nSeveral weeks, sometimes whole months, elapse before the sailor is\r\nsufficiently recovered to resume his duties. During the greater part of\r\nthat interval he lies in the sick-bay, groaning out his days and\r\nnights; and unless he has the hide and constitution of a rhinoceros, he\r\nnever is the man he was before, but, broken and shattered to the marrow\r\nof his bones, sinks into death before his time. Instances have occurred\r\nwhere he has expired the day after the punishment. No wonder that the\r\nEnglishman, Dr. Granville—himself once a surgeon in the Navy—declares,\r\nin his work on Russia, that the barbarian “knout” itself is not a\r\ngreater torture to undergo than the Navy cat-o’-nine-tails.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJVX0Y918EMRYPFFE2VBV","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMFD65321AWYRFTQDCSHS","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AMFD05R4CG8SMCKNH5GPQ","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:38.304Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:55.581Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}