re: #57 redc1c4

The proper term is known as keel-hauling, which was a particularly ineffective way of cleaning barnacles, although quite sufficient as a way for the Capn to maintain order.

A punishment which was particularly harsh and usually fatal was keel-
hauling, awarded for serious offences, and discontinued in the Royal
Navy about 1720. It was still practised in the Dutch and French navies
until 1750.

A Stout line was rove through a block on the lower yardarm on each
side of the ship. One end was secured under the arms and around the
chest of the offender whose wrists were secured behind his back. From
the other yard the line went under the ship, as a bottom line, and was
secured around the man’s ankles. On the word of the captain the
boatswain ordered the man hoisted off the deck and clear of the
bulwarks; slack was taken down on the bottom line, and as it was
hauled in the line around the man’s chest was slacked away. In this
way he was hauled under the ship, and came up on the other side feet
first. With both lines taut the man was slung in such a way that his
stomach, chest and face were dragged across the barnacles of the keel,
and in addition he was at least partially drowned.