The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #22895 Message #1197360
Posted By: Shanghaiceltic
30-May-04 - 07:15 PM
Thread Name: Help: meaning of 'in bed w/ captain's daughter'
Subject: RE: Help: meaning of 'in bed w/ captain's daughter
Kissing the gunners daughter was a punishment often reserved for Midshipmen. Midshipmen were the lowest level of commissioned rank in the navy and as such they could not be flogged, but young midshipmen could be beaten with a cane across the backside.
Flogging was a far more severe punishment often used in the Navy but less so in the merchant navy. Generally it was reseved for members of the lower deck not officers.
Certainly in the RN at the time of Nelson sailors had to make their own cat, which after punishment was ditched. This was becuase the cat's tails would be bloodied and often carried lumps of flesh from the back of the person being punished.
In the RN the person to be flogged was triced up to a grating which was usually against the ships side on the upper deck.
The original line was 'Give him a taste of the captains daughter' a reference to the cat. Which makes more sense than 'Put him in bed with the captains daughter'.