Curio

State Library of New South Wales
Cat-o'-nine-tails

Cat-o'-nine-tails

Cat- o'-nine-tails, before 1849

Wood, leather and string

DR 55

Sir William Dixson bequest, 1952


Whips like this would have been used as part of the punishment meted out to convicts along with leg irons, solitary isolation and sometimes the treadmill.

A cat-o’-nine-tails usually has nine knotted lines or cords, which were fastened to a handle and used for flogging.  This whip is shorter than the traditionally described cat and could be a scourge.  As the language suggests both were using for flogging.


Punishments were common for bad behaviour like swearing, laziness, being drunk, returning late from work and stealing small items. For this, convicts were whipped with the ‘cat-o’-nine-tails’ or kept in solitary confinement for several days, with only bread and water to eat.


The nine cords or tails represent the nine lives of a cat and the whip also left marks like the scratches of a cat. On board ship the whip was kept in a bag, and the 'cat was let out of the bag' for a flogging. Plenty of room was needed to swing the whip without the tails getting caught, hence the saying 'no room to swing a cat'


Whips, scourges and cat-o’-nine-tails were used during the transatlantic slave trade by sailors to punish African captives on board ship. White sailors and soldiers in the British navy and army were also subject to flogging with the dreaded 'cat' until well into the 19th century.