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A leather cat o' nine tails
A leather cat o' nine tails
This article is about the implement of punishment. For the Cat O' Nine Tails plant, see Typha latifolia. Typha latifolia ( Bulrush, Common Bulrush, Broadleaf Cattail, Common Cattail, or Cat-o'-nine-tails) is a perennial

The cat o' nine tails, commonly shortened to 'the cat', is a type of multi-tailed whipping device that originated as an implement for severe physical punishment, notably in the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom. The word whip describes two basic types of tools A long stick-like device usually slightly flexible with a small bit of leather or cord called a "popper" on the Corporal punishment is the deliberate infliction of pain intended to Punish a person or change his/her behavior The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore known as the Senior Service) The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located In modern days this whip's main application shifted from the grim punitivive context to voluntary use for sexual pleasures.

Contents

Terminology

The word is recorded in English since 1695, and it was probably so called in reference to its "claws", which inflict parallel wounds. A claw is a curved pointed appendage found at the end of a toe or finger in most Mammals, Birds, and some Reptiles. The design is much older.

There are equivalent terms in many languages, usually strictly translating, and also some analogous terms referring to a similar instrument's number of tails (cord or leather), such as the Dutch zevenstaart ('seven tail[s]').

Description

The instrument traditionally has nine thongs as a result of the manner in which rope is plaited. A rope is a length of Fibers twisted or Braided together to improve strength for pulling and Connecting. Thinner rope is made from three strands of yarn plaited together, and thicker rope from three strands of thinner rope plaited together. This article is about the fiber product For the type of joke see Shaggy dog story. To make a cat o' nine tails, a rope is simply unraveled into three small ropes, and each of those next unraveled, again in three. A rationalisation (plausibly conceived post factum) for the number nine is that nine is thrice three, a Trinity of Trinities, fitting the concept of the wrongdoer going against the God of the Anglican or Catholic Church and hence against the Holy Father which, theocratically, thus puts the wrongdoer back on the path toward righteousness. SSC RF "Troitsk Institute of Innovative and Termonuclear Research" or TRINITY for shprt Троицкий Институт инновационных и термоядерных It is also said that sailors had a holy cross tatooed on their backs to prevent it from 'unreligiously' being flogged, but there is no evidence for naval authorities awarding such exemption.

In Trinidad and Tobago the "Cat" is made up of nine knotted thongs of cotton cord about 2½ feet or 76 cm long designed to lacerate the skin and cause intense pain. The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (ˈtrɪnɪdæd ən təˈbeɪgoʊ is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying northeast of the South American In the Bahamas it is made of rawhide. The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an independent sovereign English -speaking country consisting of two thousand Cays and Rawhide is a hide or animal skin that has not been exposed to Tanning.

Variations

Variations exist, either named cat (of x tails) or not, such as the whip used on adult Egyptian prisoners which had a cord on a cudgel branching into seven tails, each with six knots, used only on adult men, with boys being subject to caning, until Egypt banned the use of the device in 2001. This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. Caning is a Physical punishment (see that article for generalities and alternatives consisting of a number of hits (known as "strokes" or "cuts" with

Sometimes the term "cat" is used incorrectly to describe various other punitive flogging devices with multiple tails in any number, even one made from 80 twigs (so rather a limp birch) to flog a sick Iranian instead of 80 lashes normally applicable under shariah. Sharia ( Arabic: ar شريعة) is the body of Islamic Religious law.

Historical punishments

Naval types and use

The naval "cat", also known as the captain's daughter (since, in principle, it was only used under his authority), weighed about 13 ounces (370 g) and was composed of a baton (handle) and nine cords.

Contrary to popular belief, the standard cat was not the most feared implement; being made of rope, it was rather less painful than a leather whip or a wooden birch-rod, while the modes of application (number and intensity of lashes, anatomical target, baring) of any implement can be more important than its intrinsic potential. Birching is a Corporal punishment with a Birch rod typically applied to the recipient's bare buttocks although occasionally to the back and/or shoulders

Naval punishments

All formal punishments — ordered by captain or court martial — were given ceremoniously on deck, the crew being summoned to ‘witness punishment’ (though usually adults and boys separated, which was apparently not strictly observed in practice) and drama enhanced by drum roll and a whole routine, including pauses, untangling of the tails, a drink of water and so on which is believed were more intended for the observing crew than for the actual participants. A court-martial (plural courts-martial) is a Military court. These military courts can determine Punishments for members of the Military subject Informal 'daily' punishments, usually without assembly, including canings, were often left unrecorded.

The thieves cat, to inflict punishment for theft, which was considered a particularly offensive crime on board ship, had each of its thongs knotted three times to cause additional pain.

Napoleonic wars period

During the period of the Napoleonic wars, the naval cat's handle was made of rope about two feet (60 cm) long and about an inch (25 mm) in diameter, and was traditionally covered with red baize cloth. The Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815 involved Napoleon's French Empire and a shifting set of European allies and opposing coalitions Baize is a coarse Woollen (or in cheaper variants Cotton) Cloth, sometimes called " Felt " in American English based on a The "tails" were made of cord about a quarter inch (6 mm) in diameter and typically two feet long. A new cat was made for each flogging by a bosun's mate and kept in a red baize bag until use. Flagellation is the act of whipping (Latin flagellum, "whip" the human body A boatswain or bosun /ˈbosn̩/ is an unlicensed member of the Deck department of a Merchant ship. In Trafalgar time, it was made by the condemned sailor during 24 hours in leg irons; the nine strongest falls were kept, and extra lashes were administered if any of the selected falls were found to be sub-standard. If several dozen lashes were awarded, each could be administered by a fresh bosun's mate — a left-handed one could be included to assure extra painful crisscrossing of the wounds. One dozen was usually awarded as a highly sensitizing 'prelude' to running the gauntlet. Running the gauntlet (alternative spellings gantlet and rarely gantlope or gantelope) is a form of physical punishment wherein a man is compelled to run

In some cases a cat with a wooden handle was used, and steel balls or barbs of wire were added to the tips of the thongs to maximize the potential flogging injury.

Boys' punishment

For summary punishment of Royal Navy boys, a lighter model was made, the reduced cat, also known as boy's cat, boy's pussy or just pussy, that had only five tails of smooth whip cord.

If formally condemned by court martial, however, even boys would suffer the claw of the 'adult' cat.

While adult sailors received their lashes on the back, they were administered to boys on the bare posterior, usually while "kissing the gunner's daughter" (bending over a gun barrel), just as boys' lighter 'daily' chastisement was usually over their (often naked) rear-end (mainly with a cane — this could be applied to the hand, but captains generally refused such impractical disablement — or a rope's end). Spanking is a form of Corporal punishment that generally consists of striking the Buttocks of a Child or Teenager, usually by the parents A cane is a long straight wooden stick generally of Bamboo, Malacca ( Rattan) or some similar plant mainly used as a support such as a Walking stick Bare-bottom discipline was a tradition of the English upper and middle classes, who frequented public schools, so midshipmen (trainee officers, usually from ‘good families’, getting a cheaper equivalent education by enlisting) were not spared, at best sometimes allowed to receive their lashes inside a cabin. For the fish called midshipman see Midshipman fish. The rank of midshipman is one of the oldest ranks still in existence Still, it is reported that the ‘infantile’ humiliation of bare stern punishment was believed essential for optimal deterrence; cocky miscreants might brave the pain of the adult cat in the macho spirit of ‘taking it like a man’ or even as a ‘badge of honor’.

On board training ships, where most of the crew were boys, the cat was never introduced, but their bare bottoms risked, as in other naval establishments on land, the sting of the birch, another favorite in public schools. A training ship is a ship used to train students as Sailors The term is especially used for ships employed by navies to train future officers Birching is a Corporal punishment with a Birch rod typically applied to the recipient's bare buttocks although occasionally to the back and/or shoulders

Flogging round the fleet

"The severest form of flogging was a flogging round the fleet. The number of lashes was divided by the number of ships in port and the offender was rowed between ships for each ships company to witness the punishment. "[1] Penalties of hundreds of lashes were imposed for the gravest offences, including sedition and mutiny. Mutiny is a conspiracy among members of a group of similarly-situated individuals (typically members of the Military; or the Crew of any ship even The prisoner was rowed round the fleet in an open boat and received a number of his lashes at each ship in turn, for as long as the surgeon allowed. Sentences often took months or years to complete, depending on how much a man was expected to bear at a time. "[2]

British Army

The British Army had a similar multiple whip, though much lighter in construction, made of a drumstick with attached strings. The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. The flogger was usually a drummer rather than a strong bosun's mate. A drummer is a Musician who plays a Drum or drums particularly a Drum kit ("drum set" or "trap set" Marching percussion Flogging with the cat o' nine tails fell into disuse around 1870.

Naturally it was also used elsewhere in the Commonwealth, such as Canada (a dominion in 1867) until 1881. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page This 1812 drawing shows a drummer apparently lashing the buttocks of a naked soldier who is tied with spread legs on an A-frame made from sergeants' half pikes. In many places, soldiers were generally flogged stripped to the waist.

Prison usage

The cat-o'-nine-tails was also notoriously used on adult convicts in prisons; a 1951 memorandum ([1] on CorPun — possibly confirming earlier practice) ordered all UK male prisons to use only cats o' nine tails (and birches) from a national stock at Wandsworth prison, where they were to be 'thoroughly' tested before being supplied in triplicate to a prison whenever a procedure was pending for use as prison discipline. A convict is "a person found guilty of a Crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison" sometimes referred to in Slang Birching is a Corporal punishment with a Birch rod typically applied to the recipient's bare buttocks although occasionally to the back and/or shoulders This article refers only to the town of Wandsworth For the wider area generally referred to as Wandsworth see the separate article on London Borough of Wandsworth.

Penal colonies in Australia

Especially harsh floggings were given with it in secondary penal colonies of early colonial Australia, particularly at such places as Norfolk Island (apparently this has 9 leather thongs, each with a lead weight, meant as the ultimate deterrent for hardened life-convicts), Port Arthur and Moreton Bay (now Brisbane). A penal colony is a Settlement used to detain Prisoners and generally use them for Penal labour in an economically underdeveloped part of the state's For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. Norfolk Island ( Norfuk: Norfuk Ailen) is a small inhabited island in the Pacific Ocean located between Australia, New Zealand Port Arthur is a small town and former convict settlement on the Tasman Peninsula, in Tasmania, Australia. Moreton Bay is a large bay on the eastern coast of Australia 19 km from Brisbane, Queensland. Brisbane ( is the state capital of Queensland. Brisbane is the third most populous city in Australia and the most populous city of Queensland

Modern uses and types

The use of judicial whippings was banned in Great Britain in 1948. The Cat was still being used in Australia in 1957 and the cat is still in punitive use in several post-colonial societies, including several Commonwealth countries, while no less severe judicial caning is practiced in Southeast Asia. Caning is a Physical punishment (see that article for generalities and alternatives consisting of a number of hits (known as "strokes" or "cuts" with

Judicial corporal punishment has been abolished or declared unconstitutional since 1997 in Jamaica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, South Africa, Zambia, Uganda (in 2001) and Fiji (in 2002, but a caning was given to four rapists in 1998). Jamaica (ˈdʒəˈmeɪkə} is an Island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length and as much as in width situated in the Caribbean Sea. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is an island nation in the Lesser Antilles chain of the Caribbean Sea. The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa The Republic of Zambia (ˈzæmbɪə is a Landlocked country in Southern Africa. The Republic of Uganda is a Landlocked country in East Africa. Fiji (Matanitu ko Viti फ़िजी officially the Republic of the Fiji Islands (Matanitu Tu-Vaka-i-koya ko Viti फ़िजी द्वीप समूह गणराज्य

However, former colonies in the Caribbean have recently begun to reinstate flogging of the bare back. The Caribbean (ˌkærəˡbiən kæ'rəbiən Cariben|Caraïben or Caraïben; Caraïbe or more commonly Antilles; Caribe is a Region consisting Antigua and Barbuda reinstated flogging in 1990, followed by the Bahamas in 1991 but subsequently banned by laws according to Bahamas Government website Bahamas Penal Code and Barbados in 1993 (only to be formally declared inhumane and consequently unconstitutional by the Barbados Supreme Court). Antigua and Barbuda ( Spanish for "Ancient" and "Bearded" is an Island nation located on the eastern boundary of the Caribbean Sea The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an independent sovereign English -speaking country consisting of two thousand Cays and Barbados ( Portuguese word for bearded-ones, bɑrˈbeɪdoʊz -dɒs situated just east of the Caribbean Sea, is an independent Island nation Jamaica in 1994 (flogging was banned again by the Jamaican Court of Appeal in 1998 [2]). Jamaica (ˈdʒəˈmeɪkə} is an Island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length and as much as in width situated in the Caribbean Sea.

Trinidad & Tobago never banned the "Cat" and birching. The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (ˈtrɪnɪdæd ən təˈbeɪgoʊ is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying northeast of the South American Birching is a Corporal punishment with a Birch rod typically applied to the recipient's bare buttocks although occasionally to the back and/or shoulders The use of both are regulated under the "Corporal Punishment (Offenders over Sixteen) Act" of 1953. Under this Act, use of the "Cat" was limited to male offenders over the age of 16. The age limit—repeatedly disregarded—was raised in 2000 to 18. Trinidad outlawed the corporal punishment of minors (both by courts and in schools) in 2001.

The Government of Trinidad & Tobago has been accused of torture and "cruel, inhuman and degrading" treatment of prisoners, and on 11 March, 2005 was ordered by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to pay US $50,000 for "moral damages" to a prisoner who had received 15 strokes of the "Cat" plus expenses for his medical and psychological care; it is unclear whether the Court's decisions were met. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights is an autonomous judicial institution based in the city of San José, Costa Rica. The Inter-American court has no jurisdiction in Trinidad and Tobago, whose highest court is the Privy Council in London. A privy council is a body that advises the Head of state of a nation on how to exercise their executive authority, typically but not always in the context of a

In most modern societies, the cat is a horror icon from the past, now often associated with BDSM culture.

In recent years the term cat o' nine tails is used imprecisely to describe almost any kind of multi-tailed whip, particularly those found in modern BDSM. These whips are usually made of soft leather, which reduces the potential for injury, and used in a way so as to not inflict terrible pain and, especially, wounds in a way that the voluntary participants find acceptable. Miniature versions are also known as ball whip because it is used for male genitorture. Torture, according to the United Nations Convention Against Torture, is "any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental is intentionally

References in culture

Expressions

Fiction, songs and games

See also

Sources and References and further reading

  1. ^ Broadside. Crime and Punishment
  2. ^ Flogging Round the Fleet
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