TerryF on 25 Apr 2006  •  Link

"A salt eel. A rope’s end, used for scourging. At one time eelskins were used for whips [to correct boys, &c. at sea]."
“With my salt eele, went down in the parler, and there got my boy and did beat him.”—Pepys Diary (April 24th [1663]). http://www.bartleby.com/81/5655.h…

in Aqua Scripto on 25 Apr 2006  •  Link

eel, it doth dull a sharp knife very quickly, 'tis tougher than a cane and doth have more flex to get around the victim to ensure that the weal be uniform from start to finish.

Bill on 9 Feb 2016  •  Link

"A seaman is seldom without a salt eel"
---A Sea-Voyage. Beaumont & Massinger, 1647 http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…

SP will mention this play in 1667 and 1668

San Diego Sarah on 23 Apr 2016  •  Link

More on sale eels, floggings and "correction":

✹ Martin on 25 Apr 2006 • Link • Flag
Sam was resolved to get rid of Wayneman, and on Dec. 27 1662 said he would keep him just a week longer. He has said nothing further about this but apparently nothing is in the works. Out of his basic fondness for the boy he seems to have decided to try a little more tough love to see if he will reform.
✹ David A. Smith on 25 Apr 2006 • Link • Flag
"he being capable of making a brave man" Judge not by ourselves, but by the 17th-century attitudes toward physical punishment and moral instruction. Whatever one thinks of his tactics, Sam is motivated to improve the lad, and the lad stays (yes, I understand his choices may have been limited).
✹ TerryF on 25 Apr 2006 • Link • Flag
What SP did to Wayneman was called 'correction.'
✹ Pedro on 25 Apr 2006 • Link • Flag
“yet for all I am afeard it will make the boy never the better” Sam seems to imply that beating may be a trusted way, in those days, of improving the boy. I would love to know if Sam was subjected to the treatment in his youth.
✹ in Aqua Scripto on 25 Apr 2006 • Link • Flag
The Military Army/Navy had whippings,100 lashes etc. that were part of the punishment scheme until early 20th Century.
✹ TerryF on 25 Apr 2006 • Link • Flag
The status of the lash in the Navy “You say that I am ignoring the time-honored traditions of the Royal Navy? And what might they be? I shall tell you in three words. Rum, buggery, and the lash! Good morning sirs.” - Winston Churchill addressing the Sea Lords, 1912 http://www.clashofarms.com/feargo…
✹ Australian Susan on 25 Apr 2006 • Link • Flag
Much is made here of the terrible floggings administered to convicts in the early 19th century, but ... the colony was a military run establishment at the beginning, using military discipline and the floggings were the same as given to members of the Royal Navy at that time. Very brutal.
✹ Jesse on 25 Apr 2006 • Link • Flag
"did beat him till I was fain to take breath two or three times" I just finished reading about Uriah Levy http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/…... who's "wish [was] that he be remembered for his singular efforts to abolish the barbarous punishment of flogging in the U.S. Navy, which resulted in Congressional approval of an anti-flogging bill in 1850." http://www.amuseum.org/jahf/virto… .
✹ Paul Dyson on 25 Apr 2006 • Link • Flag
salt eel For an interesting, although long, study of the educational use of corporal punishment see the following link. Section 3.5 deals with England up to the 18th Century. http://www.zona-pellucida.com/wil…
✹ in Aqua Scripto on 26 Apr 2006 • Link • Flag
For justice and punishment see Old Bailey online: http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/