Bureaucracy and the Pursuit of Justice

You'd think it would be an easy thing to flog somebody. This is what's wrong with pirate society today. You take out the cat-o'nine-tails, tie the offending crewman to the mast, or whatever whipping post have ye, and you smack 'em with the cat a few times.

The problem is, nobody likes a whipping. If you resort to one, crewmen get nervous that it's going to become a regular thing. This is what separates us from, say, the Royal Navy. In the Royal Navy, they whip ye for slurping your soup or calling the Commandant names. Aboard a privateer's ship, you can call the Captain whatever you want (just don't mention his mother). But you get out the tails, and everybody starts thinking oh, it's THAT kind of ship now. Hence, there are procedures to follow.

So a flogging is not an easy solution, but it is an effective one. Crewmen become very compliant with a healthy and--this is important--warranted application of lashings.

As you may have guessed, we received approval from the barrister. So now the Carpenter's Mate in charge of cabin safety is scrutinizing the articles, to solidify our case against the Plank Owner described in previous entries. Hopefully, sometime this week, the cat will come out of the bag. I'll keep you posted.