Blog Post 6

Some of the many punishments that pirates had to face were some of the most cruel and extreme. These punishments were often carried out to those Pirates that disobeyed the Pirate codes. Some of the main pirate punishments included Keelhauling, Marooning , Dunking, Flogging , tied to the mast, and Slavery. When a pirate was Marooned he was  left to die without water and food on uninhabitable islands. Pirates were given, however, means to commit suicide, being left with a knife or pistol to put an end to the torture of marooning. Keelhauling was when A rope was tied beneath the belly of the ship and the offending pirate would be tied to the rope and hauled underwater, dragging underneath the pirate ship. The ship’s hull, covered in sharp barnacles, would cut like razors making for a very slow and painful death. Dunking was when A pirate was attached to a wooden beam and dunked into the water repeatedly. When performed during a ceremony, this was seen as an honor, when performed as a punishment, you would be sure that the dunking was a lot harder and deeper. And then flogging was when was perhaps the most common form of punishment for mild indiscretions upon ships, although it was less common on pirate ships because it was associated with the discipline enforced onboard naval vessels.