Keelhauling in the Tudor period (1485–1603) Jan van Nes, Lieve Pietersz. Verschuier. 1660 to 1686 Keelhauling (Dutch kielhalen; "to drag along the keel") is a form of punishment and potential execution once meted out to sailors at sea. The sailor was tied to a line looped beneath the vessel, thrown overboard on one side of the ship, and dragged under the ship's keel, either from one side of the ship to the other, or the length of the ship (from bow to stern). The common supposition is that keelhauling amounted to a sentence of either death by extreme torture, or minimally a physical trauma likely to permanently maim.
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In 1816, sheriff, farmer, yard owner and ship owner Thor Aagessøn Klavenes (1767–1854) established a site for keelhauling, and later a shipbuilding berth at Framnes. The keelhauling site was situated in the area where the carpentry shop was later built, with the building berth located to the northeast. In 1832, his son Aake Torssøn Klavenes took over the management of the yard until his death in 1853. Thor was the main creditor and reassumed control of the company, until Henrik Klaveness (the eldest son of Aake Klaveness) took over in 1857.
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The hull of the ship was usually covered in barnacles and other marine growth, and thus, keelhauling would typically result in serious lacerations, of which the victim could later suffer infection and scarring. If the victim was dragged slowly, his weight might lower him sufficiently to miss the barnacles, but this method would frequently result in his drowning. There was also a risk of head trauma from colliding against the hull or keel, especially if the ship was in motion. There is limited evidence that keelhauling in this form was used by pirate ships, especially in the ancient world.
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Keelhauling was used rarely, if at all, and had been abandoned long before Bligh's time. Indeed, the meticulous record of Bountys log reveals that the flogging rate was lower than the average for that time. Prior to the mutiny, Bounty had only two deaths—one seaman died of scurvy (not keelhauling), and the ship's surgeon died apparently of drink and indolence and not as a result of abuse by Bligh. Likewise, the film shows the mutineers taking over the ship only after killing several loyal crewmen, when in fact none died (although one crewman came very close to shooting Bligh until stopped by Christian).
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The movie was always presented as an adaptation of the Nordhoff and Hall trilogy, which already differed from the actual story of the mutiny. Bligh is initially depicted as a brutal, sadistic disciplinarian, only becoming more sympathetic during the voyage to Timor. Particular episodes include a keelhauling and flogging a dead man. Neither of these happened.
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Nicholas A. M. Rodger, 2017 Personal communication In 1880, Mr. Shaw Lefevre (MP), confronted in Parliament with a recent report from Italy of a keelhauling on HMS Alexandra, denied that such an incident had taken place."NAVY—ALLEGED INSTANCE OF "KEEL-HAULING. HC Deb 04 September 1880 vol 256 c1275 api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard, accessed 8 August 2018.
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The earliest known mention of keelhauling is from the Greeks in the Rhodian Maritime Code (Lex Rhodia), of c. 700 BC, which outlines punishment for piracy. There is an image on a Greek vase, for example, from the same era.H. A. Ormerod, Piracy in the Ancient World (New York: Dorset Press, 1987), 54-56. Several 17th-century English writers such as Monson and BotelerBoteler’s Dialogues, ed.
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Greenbeard (Len Carlson in seasons 1–2) is the leader of a band of space pirates who seek out treasures left behind by their former owners or steal outright from starships unfortunate enough to cross their path. With a long coat, mechanical parrot, and peg leg, he also upholds many old traditions of classic pirates, including walking the plank and keelhauling. He is a parody of Edward Teach a.k.a. Blackbeard.
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Richard Maibaum was once again the scriptwriter for the story, assisted by Michael G. Wilson. According to Wilson, the ideas from stories could have come from anyone as the outlines were worked out in committee that could include Broccoli, Maibaum, Wilson and stunt coordinators. Much of the inspiration for the stories for the film came from two Ian Fleming short stories from the collection For Your Eyes Only: Risico and For Your Eyes Only. Another set-piece from the novel of Live and Let Die – the keelhauling – which was unused in the film of the same name, was also inserted into the plot.
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Anarchist Auguste Vaillant about to be guillotined in France in 1894 Execution of criminals and dissidents has been used by nearly all societies since the beginning of civilizations on Earth. Until the nineteenth century, without developed prison systems, there was frequently no workable alternative to ensure deterrence and incapacitation of criminals. In pre-modern times the executions themselves often involved torture with cruel and painful methods, such as the breaking wheel, keelhauling, sawing, hanging, drawing, and quartering, brazen bull, burning at the stake, flaying, slow slicing, boiling alive, impalement, mazzatello, blowing from a gun, schwedentrunk, blood eagle, and scaphism. The use of formal execution extends to the beginning of recorded history.
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According to Wilson, the ideas could have come from anyone as a committee that could include Broccoli, Maibaum, Wilson, Glen and stunt coordinators worked on the outlines. Much of the inspiration for the stories for the film came from two Fleming short stories from the collection For Your Eyes Only: "Risico" and "For Your Eyes Only". Another set-piece from the novel of Live and Let Die—the keelhauling—which was unused in that novel's adaptation, was inserted into the plot. Production of For Your Eyes Only began on 2 September 1980 in the North Sea, with three days shooting exterior scenes for the scenes involving the St Georges spyboat.
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The man is dragged under the keel of the ship until his body was sliced to ribbons and the white of his ribs and backbone were visible. The unfortunate man might've survived but before the crew could hoist him back on board a pair of Mako sharks were attracted by the scent of blood and attacked and chewed him into pieces before the horrified eyes of the men on deck. Independent confirmation of whether this event actually happened or is a convincing figment of the author's imagination of how the real-life practice of keelhauling was accomplished has not been completed. The novel also refers to Ceylon, which by the time it was published had been renamed Sri Lanka.
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The Mediterranean Caper is different from most novels in the pantheon of the Pitt thrillers in that it does not start with a prologue set in the past. However, a number of true life people and events are mentioned during the course of the novel. These would include the spy Mata Hari, the ghost ships Mary Celeste and Flying Dutchman, and a variety of Nazi war criminals including Martin Bormann and Hermann Göring. A reference is also made to the gruesome keelhauling of a sailor on HMS Confident in 1786The account is of a Gunner's Mate who is dragged under the keel of HMS Confident off the coast of Timor in 1786 as punishment for stealing a cup of brandy from the captain's locker.
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There are many ways through which Dutch words have entered the English language: via trade and navigation, such as skipper (from schipper), freebooter (from vrijbuiter), keelhauling (from kielhalen); via painting, such as landscape (from landschap), easel (from ezel), still life (from stilleven); warfare, such as forlorn hope (from verloren hoop), beleaguer (from beleger), to bicker (from bicken); via civil engineering, such as dam, polder, dune (from duin); via the New Netherland settlements in North America, such as cookie (from koekie), boss from baas, Santa Claus (from Sinterklaas); via Dutch/Afrikaans speakers with English speakers in South Africa, such as wildebeest, apartheid, boer; via French words of Dutch/Flemish origin that have subsequently been adopted into English, such as boulevard (from bolwerk), mannequin (from manneken), buoy (from boei).
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