Horror on the High Seas: The Gunner's Daughter
The gun to which boys serving in the Royal Navy were tied or 'married' when being whipped. On some ships it was superstition that if the boys were not whipped on a Monday, there would be no good winds the following week. To 'hug' or 'kiss the gunner's daughter' thus meant a whipping. When 'married to the gunner's daughter' for a flogging, the miscreant was tied to the four deck rings which held each cannon in place. As the sailor was tied to the gun barrel, the saying 'you've got me over a barrel' comes from this time. Sailors were whacked with a rope's end on the gun deck, where the ceilings were only a maximum of four feet six inches. For more serious offences, requiring enough room to 'swing a cat' of nine tails, the punishment was carried out on the main deck.
~ from
The Pirate Dictionary by Terry Breverton
Header: Cannon on the gun deck
Ahoy, Pauline! Always good to make sure that proper flogging procedures are followed.
ReplyDeleteThis is the Royal Navy, after all...
ReplyDeleteMarried to the guns.... mayhap why they are known as "Gunner's Mates" :-)
ReplyDeleteAnd we all know a boy conceived on the gun deck is a son of a gun ;)
ReplyDeletePauline, your last comment above... Was your tongue in your cheek when you wrote that? My god, are there no sayings that are historically safe from the sea? Haha... how wonderful!
ReplyDeleteWell yes and no. That derivation is one theory about where "son of a gun" came from. The other is that the boys aboard pre-Victorian era ships were generally looked after by the gunner's wife who was often on board. Since his wife was their "sea mother", the gunner was their "sea father". Thus son of a gun meant a man who had started service at sea as a boy.
ReplyDeleteAs you note, very little in the English language is safe from the sea :)