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The Cat O' Nine Tails is a type of multi-tailed whip that originated as a tool of corporal punishment from the British navy. The naval "cat" was about 13 oz. in weight and composed of a baton (handle) and nine thongs. A whip is a cord or strap, usually with a stiff handle, used for delivering blows to human beings or animals as a means of control or punishment or torture. ...
Corporal punishment is the deliberate infliction of pain intended as correction or punishment, (corporal means of, relating to, or affecting the body). ...
The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the senior service of the armed services, being the oldest of its three branches. ...
Baton is the name of one of two leaders of the Illyrian uprising against the Romans in Pannonia in 6 AD. The term baton refers to any of several types of cylindrical or tapered instruments composed of a wide variety of materials, and of differing functions: A baton (billy, billy...
The word thong can mean several things: a thin leather strap a G-string, an item of underwear or swimwear a thong sandal or flip-flop, a type of sandal held to the foot by a thin strap the English village of Thong, in Kent A thong This is a...
The instrument traditionally has nine thongs as a result of the manner in which rope is braided. Thinner rope is made from three strands of yarn braided together, and thicker rope from three strands of thinner rope braided together. To make a cat o' nine tails, a rope would simply be unraveled into three small ropes, and each of those would then be unraveled in turn. Rope is also the title of a movie by Alfred Hitchcock Coils of rope used for long-line fishing A rope is a length of fibers, twisted or braided together to improve strength, for pulling and connecting. ...
Yarn Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibers, suitable for use in the production of textiles, sewing, knitting, weaving and ropemaking. ...
During the period of the Napoleonic wars, the naval cat's handle was made of rope about two feet long and about an inch in diameter, and was traditionally covered with red baize cloth. The "tails" or thongs were made of cord about a quarter inch in diameter and typically two feet long. When inflicting punishment for theft, which was considered a particularly offensive crime on board ship, the thongs were each knotted three times to cause additional pain. A new cat was made for each flogging by a bosun's mate and kept in a red baize bag until use. The Napoleonic Wars are the wars fought during Napoleon Bonapartes rule of France. ...
Whipping on a post Flagellation is the act of whipping (Latin flagellum, whip) the human body. ...
Note that Bosun, spelled that way, is the NATO reporting name for the Soviet Tupolev Tu-14 bomber. ...
In some cases a cat with a wooden handle was used, and steel balls or barbs of wire were added to the tips of the thongs to maximize the potential flogging injury. The British army had a similar whip, though much lighter in construction; made of a drumstick with attached strings. The flogger was usually a drummer rather than a strong bosun's mate. Flogging with the cat o' nine tails fell into disuse around 1870. The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British military. ...
1870 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ...
The cat-o'-nine-tails was also notoriously used on convicts in secondary penal colonies of early colonial Australia, particularly at such places as Norfolk Island, Port Arthur and Moreton Bay (now Brisbane). A Penal Colony is a colony used to house prisoners. ...
Port Arthur, Tasmania Port Arthur is a town and former convict settlement on the Tasman Peninsula, in Tasmania, Australia. ...
Brisbane by night Brisbane is the capital city of the state of Queensland, Australia. ...
References in modern culture
The still-popular sailor's song What shall we do with a drunken sailor? has a verse that goes "Give him a taste of the captain's daughter" or "Throw him in bed with the captain's daughter". While this doesn't sound a dire fate for the tipsy seaman, in actuality the term "captain's daughter" refers to the cat o' nine tails or a similar whip.
In more recent years the term cat o' nine tails is used to describe almost any kind of multi-tailed whip, particularly those found in modern BDSM. These whips are usually made of soft leather and have much less potential for injury. A collar is a common symbol of BDSM. BDSM is a term which describes a number of related patterns of human sexual behaviour. ...
Also, the common phrase, "not enough room to swing a cat," is derived not from the swinging of a real cat, but of a cat o' nine tails.
The phrase "letting the cat out of the bag" in the sense of revealing a secret may derive from the cat o' nine tails being kept in a red baize bag and being taken out when punishment is to be inflicted. For a sailor being punished for the first time, the secret of what the 'cat' is is thereby revealed. There are other possible explainations for this particular phrase.
In the Known Space series of science-fiction books, the alien race called Outsiders are always described as resembling a "cat o' nine tails with a fattened handle." Known Space is the fictional setting of many of Larry Nivens science fiction stories. ...
See also Corporal punishment is the deliberate infliction of pain intended as correction or punishment, (corporal means of, relating to, or affecting the body). ...
A whip is a cord or strap, usually with a stiff handle, used for delivering blows to human beings or animals as a means of control or punishment or torture. ...
Whipping on a post Flagellation is the act of whipping (Latin flagellum, whip) the human body. ...
A collar is a common symbol of BDSM. BDSM is a term which describes a number of related patterns of human sexual behaviour. ...
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