The Inhumane Naval Practice Of Keelhauling

Could you survive?

(Public domain)

History is no stranger to cruel and unusual punishments. It is one of the reasons why the US Constitution bans such practices. Keelhauling was one such punishment that was meted out at sea by sailors among their own. The practice of keelhauling is shrouded in mystery. There are debates about how widespread it was, whether or not it was meant as a method of execution or simply a nonlethal physical punishment.

There is, however, no debate that keelhauling is horrific, whether it kills or not. The practice saw a sailor tied to a long rope that was looped around the ship. The offender was then thrown overboard and pulled under the water along the ship's entire length (the keel) until they made a full circuit. The result was often death by drowning, but some people also managed to survive.

Death By a Thousand Cuts

One of the biggest dangers of keelhauling stemmed from the prevalence of barnacles along the bottom of the ship. Barnacles are notoriously hard and sharp and grow in large numbers on the bottom of oceangoing vessels. A person scraped along the bottom of a ship would be subjected to terrible lacerations as they were pulled across the sharp barnacles. Even if they survived the ordeal, they would be cut to ribbons and be at a high risk of…