Keelhauling

History

There is limited evidence that keelhauling in this form was used by pirate ships, especially in the ancient world. The earliest definitive mention of keelhauling is from the Byzantine Rhodian Maritime Code (Lex Rhodia), of c. 700 CE, which outlines punishment for piracy. However, there are images on c. 500 BCE Greek vases, as well as a mention in Herodotus' Histories, that either refer to strappado — that is, hanging the victim over the water — or of a keelhauling proper.

Several 17th-century English writers such as William Monson and Nathaniel Boteler recorded the use of keelhauling on English naval ships. However, their references are vague and provide no date. In 1880, George Shaw Lefevre was confronted in Parliament with a recent report from Italy of a keelhauling on HMS Alexandra, and denied that such an incident had taken place.

Some historians believe keelhauling may have been introduced to the Dutch Navy by William of Orange. On 11 October 1652, under Jan van Riebeeck's command, Jan Blank, a sailor, was keelhauled, whipped a total of 150 lashes, and then enslaved for 2 years as punishment for deserting the VOC for nine days. Perhaps the most graphic incident of it occurred in 1673 when Cornelis Evertsen the Youngest punished sailors who committed murder. It was an official, though rare, punishment in the Dutch navy, as shown in the painting The keelhauling of the ship's surgeon of Admiral Jan van Nes. This shows a large crowd gathered to watch the event, as though it was a "show" punishment intended to frighten other potential offenders, as was flogging round the fleet.

A footnote in one source suggests that it may have evolved from the medieval punishment of ducking.

The term still survives today, although usually in the sense of being severely rebuked.

References

• kielholen entry in: Johann Hinrich Röding: Allgemeines Wörterbuch der Marine in allen Europäischen Seesprachen nebst vollständigen Erklärungen. Nemnich, Hamburg & J.J. Gebauer, Halle, 1793–1798.

References

1. "Etymological origins".
2. Adams, Cecil. (4 August 1995). "What do “drawn and quartered” and “keelhauling” mean?". [[The Straight Dope]].
3. H. A. Ormerod, ''Piracy in the Ancient World'' (New York: Dorset Press, 1987), 54–56.
4. C.E. Ioannidou, "[http://doi.fil.bg.ac.rs/pdf/journals/arhe_apn/2020/arhe_apn-2020-16-1.pdf The black version of water and underwater activity: drowning, Torture, and executions below The sea in ancient greece during The archaic and classical period]"
5. (August 14, 1902). "The naval tracts of Sir William Monson". [London], Printed for the Navy Records Society.
6. ''Boteler’s Dialogues'', ed. Perrin 11-25
7. [https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1880/sep/04/navy-alleged-instance-of-keel-hauling "NAVY—ALLEGED INSTANCE OF "KEEL-HAULING{{'". HC Deb 04 September 1880 CE vol 256 c1275] api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard, accessed 8 August 2018.
8. Routledge, E.. (1864). "Routledge's Every Boy's Annual". Routledge, Warne & Routledge.
9. Biodiversity Heritage Library. (1907). "Notes and Queries". Oxford University Press.
10. Wood, E.. (1916). "Our Fighting Services and how They Made the Empire". Cassell, Limited.
11. Van Riebeeck, Jan. (1884). "Dagverhaal van Jan Van Riebeeck, Deel 1 (1652-1655)". Kemink & Zoon.
12. Leibbrandt, H. (1897). "Riebeeck's Journal, Part 1 (December 1651 - December 1655)". W A Richards & Sons, Government Printers.
13. Marley, D.. (2010). "Pirates of the Americas". ABC-CLIO.
14. ''The Dutch navy of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries'', Jaap R. Bruijn
15. {{"'Ducking' at the main [[yard arm]] is, when a malefactor by having a rope fastened under his arms and about his middle, and under his breech, is thus hois[t]ed up to the end of the yard; from whence he is again violently let fall into the sea, sometimes twice, sometimes three several times one after another; and if the offence be very foul, he is also drawn under the very keel of the ship...'". ''Dialogical Discourse of Marine Affairs'', Nathaniel Boteler (1685)
16. {{Cite Merriam-Webster. keelhaul