Talk:Keelhauling

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Name

I find many more references to this practices when spelled "keel-hauling" (with the hyphen), so I'm thinking of moving the article there. Any objections? Let me know here, or on my talk page. Joyous 00:50, Dec 7, 2004 (UTC)

Dictionary

I have just had a look through a number of dictionaries and they almost all used keelhaul as one word as first usage though some have keel-haul. I think that a redirect from Keel-hauling would handle the situation. In terms of references where are you looking? Google seems to include "keelhaul" with "keel-haul" but not vice versa. Dabbler 02:40, 7 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Ok. Sounds fine with me. I had Googled and used a couple of dictionaries here. Joyous 02:45, Dec 7, 2004 (UTC)

Platform

During offshore operations involving the construction of a mimi oil platform offshore West Africa, we were obliged to transfer a heavy structure from port to satrboard beneath the main cantilever deck. In the instructions I used the term keelhauling to describe this.

Grammar and Ambiguity

Common alternative naval corporal punishments included, as in the British Navy, forms of flagellation (by cat o' nine tails, birching), sometimes to death, caning and hanging from a mast.

It's unclear whether the "sometimes to death" refers to the caning and hanging or the flagellation, or both.

Move

I've moved this back to "keelhauling" from "kielhalen" — the latter may be correct Dutch, but this is the English version of Wikipedia, so we should use the English word for it (even if that word is indeed derived from the Dutch one). -- Vardion 00:51, 18 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Clearing the Keel

One of the boats on a recent episode of deadliest catch used the term keelhauling for attaching a weight and dragging it on the bottom of the boat to recover a line attached to a propeller. Someone more knowledgeable in nautical practice may want to add a better description of this here. Jon Thompson 00:44, 24 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Aaaaar, good suggestion shipmate. 90.212.113.100 (talk) 03:42, 22 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I'm watching this episode right now. Basically the only difference between the procedure shown on the show and the description in this article is the fact that there is a person attached to the keelhaul instead of a weight. It would seem to me therefore, that perhaps the form of punishment may have evolved from the nautical technique. Perhaps a chicken vs. egg debate? -- RoninBK _{T C} 21:00, 4 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Along vs. across?

[This contradicts "along the keel" (above) which to me means 'bow to stern' or, improbably, vice versa. not what "on one side ... to the other side" implies[above]. This would mean 'port to starboard' or vice versa. Besides, going in this direction would probably, cause the sailor to drown, because of slack in the rope, or getting stuck on the keel, never mind the barnacles. I repeat, the above says "along the keel" not across. I have no reference other than command of the English Language and the logic I just described. By the way, the Dutch kielhalen translates literally to keelhauling without implying any direction, i.e., along or across. My inference is "along". frankschoeman@optonline.net]. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.197.229.41 (talk) 12:16, 13 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The etymological background of a word often corresponds very loosely with its literal meaning. For example, "hydrophobic" molecules are "water fearing", but they're not actually afraid of water. It's normal for words to have etymologies that do not neatly correspond with their literal meanings. If keelhauling has an etymological background of "along the keel", there's no reason to be surprised the literal meaning is something a little different, "across the keel". Gaberdine2 (talk) 12:35, 13 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Notable?

Is a game on Survivor really that notable? Lots42 (talk) 14:38, 12 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The majority of these aren't notable. I'm baffled as to why they haven't been removed yet. 71.231.89.63 (talk) 09:27, 20 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Is keelhauling a myth?

Are there any documented cases in historical records of officially-sanctioned keelhauling, used as a punishment? Or is it -- as seems likely -- just a myth used to scare kids and frighten new enlistees?

I've been told that keelhauling is when sailors used to drag air-filled barrels under the keel to try to knock off barnacles and other bio fouling organisms, and that there are no known cases of a human actually being dragged under the ship for punishment.

It's article makes it seem like this punishment/execution was actually practiced by seafaring nations. I there evidence that it was used, or is it just there to scare sailors? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.111.150.162 (talk) 21:39, 28 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Agreed. Surely, if practised, this would normally have been a death sentence. Norvo (talk) 01:04, 20 November 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Survival rate?

Are there any stats for how likely someone was to survive this punishment? Iapetus (talk) 10:04, 8 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]

No, but as a rule of thumb the person punished in that way would have been killed: either getting his neck, limbs and/or face broken or drowning, as explained in the article. 83.254.154.164 (talk) 15:05, 26 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]