122 THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN 



ing bruise j others were incapacitated for days or weeks by pain- 

 ful and serious injuries; a smaller number were disfigured or 

 disabled for life. But in whatever form or degree of severity, 

 impromptu or premeditated, administered as a reproof for a 

 definite fault or called forth as the result of an officer's peev- 

 ishness, corporal punishment was the commonly recognized 

 method of enforcing discipline and of forestalling potential 

 insubordination. The annals of whaling, as of the merchant 

 marine, are replete with accounts of brutality, ranging from 

 minor reprimands emphasized by blows to the most severe 

 cases of cruelty, resulting in an appreciable number of in- 

 stances in death.^ 



Flogging and confinement in the "run" were more formal, 

 standardized modes of punishment. Theoretically they were 

 reserved for the more flagrant infractions of discipline; but too 

 often they were employed whenever it suited the master's 

 fancy. In administering a flogging the body was bared down 

 to the waist. The wrists were tied together and lashed to 

 a ratline with the hands and arms extended full length above 

 the head at such a height that the feet barely touched the 

 deck. This was known as "seizing up." After having been 

 secured in this manner, the man was given as many blows on 

 the bare back with a piece of heavy rope as the captain might 

 direct: for the severity of the punishment was such that the 

 exact number of blows was usually fixed beforehand. When 

 wielded by a strong, angry officer, the impact of the rope on the 

 bare flesh was excruciatingly painful, and every blow drew 

 blood or raised a distinct welt. Finally, with his back lacer- 

 ated and the torn flesh matted with blood, the man would be 

 cut down and sent forward to care for his wounds as best he 

 might. 



Not infrequently a flogging would be followed by confine- 

 ment in the "run," a small hole under the deck which was ut- 

 terly without light or ventilation and in which even a very 

 short man could not stand upright. Invariably such confine- 

 ment, extending over a period of several days or several weeks, 



3 See practically any of the contemporary accounts of whaling voyages given 

 in the Bibliography, as well as the Consular Letters in the State Department 

 Library, Washington, D. C, 



