A broad choice at disposal!

The good news is, you were already dead. The bad news is you were not given a proper burial. For many pirates, this bad news was quite frightening. It meant that your immortal soul would never have any chance of redemption.

The practice of hanging in chains or irons was pretty basic. The pirate would be hanged until dead. Then his body would be placed in a iron cage or possibly wrapped in chains. This cage was then hoisted on a rafter and left to rot in a public area.

 Typically this public place would be a dock where other potential pirates would be able to view it as a warning/reminder of what comes of those who go on the account. Such places as harbor entrances were a favorite for hanging pirates in irons. Gallows Point was one of the most famous paces.

The body would remain on display until there really wasn't anything left to display because of decomposition. At this point the rotting body would most often be dumped in the ocean for fish food or, at best, buried between the tides. It was very rare for a body hanged in irons to be claimed, due to the enormous amount of disgrace attached to such a person and the assumption that whom ever claimed the body was a pirate as well.

 The Pillory

Few pirates got off by simply being pilloried. To be sentenced to the pillory was a sentence of public humiliation. The pillory was a round platform that could be rotated. The person to be pilloried would be secured to the pillory in a number of ways. In some instances he or she was fastened with chains about the neck, hands ankles and waist and forced to remain in kneeling or half crouching stance. Other pillories had a chest high yoke where the head and hands were securely locked in place forcing the person to stand in an uncomfortable position. In most cases, the pillory was located in a market place or other gathering area. Many pillories were designed so that the platform could be rotated 360°. This allowed a good view of the person from all directions. Persons would often be sentenced to the pillory for a few hours or perhaps a day or two.

There are records or people being sentenced to the pillory for six or twelve hours only to have the sentence commuted after one or two hours on the pillory. The reason for the commuting of the sentence is because the pillory was not designed to kill a person only cause them great humiliation. While in the pillory, the crowd was allowed to castigate the criminal. This included both verbal and physical torment. The physical torment included throwing rotting vegetables and human and animal waste at the criminal. Often more deadly items such as sticks and stones were thrown. While being pilloried, the criminal was not allowed food or drink. Many people died being pilloried despite having a sentence commuted to time served. Broken bones were common, and in the case of the neck yoke, if a person lost their footing they could suffocate due to strangulation.

It is doubtful many pirates got off with just a time in the pillory. However, a pirate who was flogged could very well spend some time in the pillory after being beaten. If you see a sentence such as "fifty stripes on the back followed by a day of public display (or humiliation) it probably meant flogging and the pillory.

Flogging:

The lucky man convicted of piracy got off with 50 to 100 lashes! Flogging was an acceptable way to punish sailors on board Navy and Merchant ships. The Captain of the ship usually determined the number of lashes to be given and in some cases those numbers could reach fifty or even one hundred. In most instance a much lower number was given (ten or twenty). The implement used in the punishment was the cat-o' nine tails.

 

The Cat o' nine tails was a particularly nasty whip that was common on board naval vessels at the time. It was a whip, usually made a cow or horse hide, with nine knotted lines. There are stories that steel balls or barbs of wires would be added to the end of the lines to give them more striking force.

The whips were typically oiled and wiped clean in between floggings but the concept of bacteria and germs was unknown. The cat-o'-nine tails was a breeding ground for disease and pestilence.

After the flogging was meted out, one of two things was usually done. On board most ships the back was doused with a mixture of salt and vinegar or a bucket of water fron the ocean!. This lessened the chance of infection. however this was done to members of the crew, men still considered good sailors. Pirates were less likely to be given adequate medical treatment, especially if they were captured by a nation other than Britain. A pirate flogging could lead to a slow painful death from gangrene or blood poisoning.

A funny note: Many people have heard the song, What do you do with a Drunken Sailor. One particular verse was originally sung: Give him a taste of the Captain's Daughter. This has been corrupted by some balladeers to Throw him in bed with the captains' daughter. Obviously the second term makes more sense to many people today, but does not really seem to be much of a punishment (unless the Captain catches him!). If you go back to the original verse and make the connection that the Captain's Daughter was slang for the Cat-o 'nine tails then the punishment become quite clear. So next time you are at an Irish bar and they begin singing Drunken Sailor impress your friends with this bit o trivia: The Captain's Daughter is the Cat-o-nine tails!