1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:06,400 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:10,560 Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a 3 00:00:10,680 --> 00:00:13,600 Speaker 1: show that shines a light on the ups and downs 4 00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:18,280 Speaker 1: of everyday history. I'm Gay Bluesier, and in this episode, 5 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:21,000 Speaker 1: we're talking about the day when the dreaded Cat of 6 00:00:21,079 --> 00:00:24,840 Speaker 1: nine Tales was finally put to sleep. As a warning, 7 00:00:25,079 --> 00:00:29,720 Speaker 1: today's episode features descriptions of corporal punishment which some listeners 8 00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:41,640 Speaker 1: may find disturbing. The day was September twenty eighth, eighteen fifty. 9 00:00:42,479 --> 00:00:45,920 Speaker 1: An Act of Congress outlawed the practice of flogging within 10 00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:49,400 Speaker 1: the US Navy. The ban had been tacked on to 11 00:00:49,520 --> 00:00:53,159 Speaker 1: a Naval appropriations bill and just barely passed through the 12 00:00:53,159 --> 00:00:56,080 Speaker 1: Senate with a vote of twenty six to twenty four. 13 00:00:56,800 --> 00:01:00,240 Speaker 1: It was then signed into law by President Millard Fillmore, 14 00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:03,640 Speaker 1: marking the official end of one of the Navy's oldest 15 00:01:03,720 --> 00:01:09,000 Speaker 1: and most brutal traditions for those blissfully unaware. Flogging was 16 00:01:09,040 --> 00:01:14,120 Speaker 1: a form of severe corporal punishment typically administered aboard seafaring vessels. 17 00:01:14,800 --> 00:01:18,119 Speaker 1: The offending sailor would be stripped to the waist, tied 18 00:01:18,160 --> 00:01:21,360 Speaker 1: to the ship's mast or railing, and then whipped across 19 00:01:21,400 --> 00:01:25,640 Speaker 1: the back with nine cords of tarred braided hemp, an 20 00:01:25,680 --> 00:01:29,440 Speaker 1: instrument known as a cat of nine tails. The knots 21 00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:32,160 Speaker 1: in the cat's tails would rip the flesh from a 22 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:36,600 Speaker 1: sailor's back, leaving behind a series of deep lacerations which 23 00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:40,839 Speaker 1: could easily become infected, and very often did. The only 24 00:01:40,880 --> 00:01:43,840 Speaker 1: way to prevent this was by rubbing salt into the 25 00:01:43,880 --> 00:01:48,440 Speaker 1: open wounds, a painful prospect and its own right. Flogging 26 00:01:48,520 --> 00:01:51,480 Speaker 1: as a means of punishment didn't begin with the United 27 00:01:51,520 --> 00:01:54,920 Speaker 1: States Navy. It had been employed by navies around the 28 00:01:54,960 --> 00:01:58,280 Speaker 1: world throughout the so called Age of Sail, the three 29 00:01:58,360 --> 00:02:02,240 Speaker 1: hundred year period between the mind sixteenth and mid nineteenth centuries, 30 00:02:02,520 --> 00:02:07,120 Speaker 1: when sailing ships were used extensively for travel, trade, and warfare. 31 00:02:07,720 --> 00:02:11,040 Speaker 1: The practice took root in the American colonies as far 32 00:02:11,080 --> 00:02:14,640 Speaker 1: back as the Revolutionary War, and became commonplace in the 33 00:02:14,639 --> 00:02:19,000 Speaker 1: new Nation's navy during the early eighteen hundreds. Some ships 34 00:02:19,040 --> 00:02:22,320 Speaker 1: averaged about two or three floggings per week, but there 35 00:02:22,320 --> 00:02:25,200 Speaker 1: were also accounts from sailors who claimed to witness at 36 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:29,519 Speaker 1: least one flogging every day of their years long enlistment. 37 00:02:30,240 --> 00:02:34,440 Speaker 1: In theory, flogging was reserved only for the most serious offenses, 38 00:02:34,720 --> 00:02:38,839 Speaker 1: but in practice, many captains dolded out far more indiscriminately, 39 00:02:39,160 --> 00:02:42,880 Speaker 1: for everything from missing curfew to stealing to the vaguely 40 00:02:42,880 --> 00:02:47,320 Speaker 1: worded neglect of duty. But the infractions that most often 41 00:02:47,400 --> 00:02:52,679 Speaker 1: resulted in flogging were ones involving alcohol, such as drunkenness, fighting, 42 00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:56,280 Speaker 1: and smuggling, and since the Navy provided each crew member 43 00:02:56,360 --> 00:03:00,280 Speaker 1: with a twice daily ration of diluted whiskey, those kinds 44 00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:05,400 Speaker 1: of offenses happened pretty often. The floggings themselves were usually 45 00:03:05,440 --> 00:03:08,760 Speaker 1: carried out by the bosun's mate, a petty officer in 46 00:03:08,880 --> 00:03:12,560 Speaker 1: charge of deck maintenance and equipment. The number of lashes 47 00:03:12,600 --> 00:03:16,000 Speaker 1: he would administer was determined by the captain, and although 48 00:03:16,040 --> 00:03:19,519 Speaker 1: the law restricted floggings to no more than twelve strokes, 49 00:03:19,919 --> 00:03:23,120 Speaker 1: captains could easily skirt the limit by sighting a sailor 50 00:03:23,200 --> 00:03:27,080 Speaker 1: with multiple offenses and then assigning a dozen lashes for each. 51 00:03:27,960 --> 00:03:32,200 Speaker 1: That gross abuse of authority made an already barbaric practice 52 00:03:32,280 --> 00:03:36,680 Speaker 1: even more cruel. Some sailors received fifty to one hundred 53 00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:40,440 Speaker 1: or more lashes in a single session, and several died 54 00:03:40,480 --> 00:03:45,160 Speaker 1: as a direct result. This grisly form of punishment served 55 00:03:45,160 --> 00:03:47,840 Speaker 1: a dual purpose, as it was also meant to deter 56 00:03:48,080 --> 00:03:51,280 Speaker 1: the rest of the crew from disobeying orders. Whenever a 57 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:54,800 Speaker 1: flogging was ordered, all the other sailors were required to 58 00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:59,600 Speaker 1: gather and bear witness. Many naval officers viewed the practice 59 00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:02,840 Speaker 1: as their only viable means of keeping their men in line. 60 00:04:03,320 --> 00:04:06,240 Speaker 1: That's because the U. S. Navy was not well funded 61 00:04:06,280 --> 00:04:08,880 Speaker 1: at the time, and because of its meager pay and 62 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:12,800 Speaker 1: harsh conditions. Most of the men who volunteered were desperate 63 00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:17,120 Speaker 1: and undisciplined, and while their unruly behavior could likely have 64 00:04:17,160 --> 00:04:21,279 Speaker 1: been corrected through proper training and leadership, floggings were much 65 00:04:21,360 --> 00:04:25,440 Speaker 1: faster and easier to implement. Confined as it was to 66 00:04:25,560 --> 00:04:29,600 Speaker 1: naval vessels and merchant ships, the brutality of flogging remained 67 00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:34,320 Speaker 1: largely unknown to the American public until two popular books 68 00:04:34,400 --> 00:04:38,799 Speaker 1: revealed its true horror. The first was Richard Henry Dana 69 00:04:38,920 --> 00:04:43,520 Speaker 1: Junior's eighteen forty memoir two years before the mass It 70 00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:46,960 Speaker 1: recounted his voyage from Boston around Cape Horn to the 71 00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:51,400 Speaker 1: California coast aboard a merchant brig called the Pilgrim. Part 72 00:04:51,440 --> 00:04:54,400 Speaker 1: of Dana's reason for writing the book was to detail 73 00:04:54,480 --> 00:04:57,880 Speaker 1: the poor conditions and harsh methods to which common sailors 74 00:04:57,880 --> 00:05:02,560 Speaker 1: were subjected, with the institution flogging being among the most egregious. 75 00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:06,880 Speaker 1: The general public was appalled by Dana's graphic descriptions of 76 00:05:06,920 --> 00:05:09,920 Speaker 1: the punishment, but it would take another decade and another 77 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:14,880 Speaker 1: revealing book, Herman Melville's White Jacket, before flogging would finally 78 00:05:14,920 --> 00:05:19,560 Speaker 1: be abolished. Another lesser known work that was instrumental in 79 00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:23,279 Speaker 1: the practice's downfall was a damning report in eighteen forty 80 00:05:23,400 --> 00:05:27,840 Speaker 1: nine written by a naval officer named Uriah Phillips Levy. 81 00:05:27,880 --> 00:05:31,440 Speaker 1: In his essay, which he paid to publish himself, Levy 82 00:05:31,560 --> 00:05:35,760 Speaker 1: argued that punishment by stripes was an ancient practice that 83 00:05:35,839 --> 00:05:40,400 Speaker 1: should be abandoned in favor of modern alternatives. Levy's views 84 00:05:40,480 --> 00:05:43,680 Speaker 1: caught the attention of Senator John Hale of New Hampshire, 85 00:05:43,960 --> 00:05:47,200 Speaker 1: and the following year he incorporated them into an anti 86 00:05:47,320 --> 00:05:52,240 Speaker 1: flogging writer for a naval appropriations bill. Though staunchly opposed 87 00:05:52,279 --> 00:05:55,360 Speaker 1: by the navy's old Guard, the bill was approved by 88 00:05:55,360 --> 00:05:59,520 Speaker 1: the Senate on September twenty eighth, eighteen fifty. The cat 89 00:06:00,080 --> 00:06:03,320 Speaker 1: actively been killed both in the U. S. Navy and 90 00:06:03,560 --> 00:06:08,080 Speaker 1: in the Merchant Marine. At first, naval officers simply traded 91 00:06:08,120 --> 00:06:11,880 Speaker 1: one corporal punishment for another, as things like caning and 92 00:06:12,040 --> 00:06:16,640 Speaker 1: confinement and irons were still on the table. Five years later, though, 93 00:06:16,880 --> 00:06:21,200 Speaker 1: Congress sewed up that loophole by establishing the Summary Court martial, 94 00:06:21,520 --> 00:06:26,120 Speaker 1: a disciplinary proceeding meant to resolve minor offenses without resorting 95 00:06:26,160 --> 00:06:30,640 Speaker 1: to torture. Another positive step in the Navy's reform came 96 00:06:30,680 --> 00:06:34,920 Speaker 1: in eighteen sixty two, when its daily grog ration was abolished. 97 00:06:35,520 --> 00:06:39,120 Speaker 1: The number of alcohol related offenses fell dramatically, and his 98 00:06:39,279 --> 00:06:43,520 Speaker 1: conditions on ships improved. So too did the quality of volunteers. 99 00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:47,440 Speaker 1: To be clear, though, the US Navy still engaged in 100 00:06:47,480 --> 00:06:51,600 Speaker 1: physical punishment for decades after flogging was abolished, but by 101 00:06:51,640 --> 00:06:54,120 Speaker 1: the turn of the twentieth century most of the other 102 00:06:54,240 --> 00:06:57,919 Speaker 1: forms had been banned as well. The lone exception was 103 00:06:57,960 --> 00:07:01,120 Speaker 1: the bread and water punishment, in which a sailor was 104 00:07:01,160 --> 00:07:03,800 Speaker 1: confined to the brig for up to three days with 105 00:07:03,839 --> 00:07:07,560 Speaker 1: nothing but bread and water to sustain them. Although it 106 00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:11,400 Speaker 1: was more humane than other traditional penalties imposed at sea, 107 00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:16,680 Speaker 1: the practice was still cruel and woefully outdated. Nonetheless, the 108 00:07:16,840 --> 00:07:20,400 Speaker 1: US Navy continued to allow bread and water as punishment 109 00:07:20,440 --> 00:07:24,160 Speaker 1: for minor misconduct all the way up until twenty nineteen. 110 00:07:24,880 --> 00:07:29,200 Speaker 1: The regulation's long overdue reversal is a reminder that the 111 00:07:29,200 --> 00:07:34,840 Speaker 1: march of progress is incremental and at times painfully slow. 112 00:07:36,080 --> 00:07:39,160 Speaker 1: I'm gay blues Ya, and hopefully you now know a 113 00:07:39,160 --> 00:07:43,440 Speaker 1: little more about history today than you did yesterday. If 114 00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:46,360 Speaker 1: you have a second and you're so inclined, consider keeping 115 00:07:46,440 --> 00:07:50,000 Speaker 1: up with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. You can 116 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:54,440 Speaker 1: find us at TDI HC Show. You can also rate 117 00:07:54,480 --> 00:07:57,280 Speaker 1: and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or you can 118 00:07:57,280 --> 00:08:00,400 Speaker 1: get in touch directly by writing to This Day at 119 00:08:00,440 --> 00:08:05,080 Speaker 1: iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays for producing the show, 120 00:08:05,360 --> 00:08:07,880 Speaker 1: and thanks to you for listening. I'll see you back 121 00:08:07,920 --> 00:08:11,640 Speaker 1: here again tomorrow for another day in history class.