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.
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.
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'
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