Rope Cat Flogger

Lynchings, or rope cats, originated as a tool for punishing sailors. This punishment was used in almost all navies. A lash is a lash woven from hemp rope with nine ends, rarely the number of ends was different - from 7 to 13, which was determined by the number of strands in the cables used in the fleet. This tool could be made in two ways: by unraveling a thick rope, or by folding the rope with the subsequent cutting of the bend on one side and tying the other one of the ends. The ends of the cats are secured from unraveling (and to increase the impact) with the so-called "b***d knot", which is where it gets its name from. Cattails vary in impact, depending on the material of manufacture, their length and the thickness of their tails. Hemp, as in navy cats, and jute are hard and traumatic materials, while cotton and linen are much softer. It is the latter that are usually used if you don't want to get gashing. Braided ropes are stiffer and heavier than twisted ropes, The diameter of the ends is 6-10 millimeters, the length can be more than a meter: already from this it is obvious how serious a device the cat is. Cats (molting) in history. Historically, cats could be simple and "thieving", heavier and tougher. The blows were usually delivered on the back, simultaneously with a step forward and with the shoulder, which means that the cat described a very large arc. The f***e of the blow was greatly increased by this. The number of blows could be from one dozen to 12 dozen. Already after a few blows there was b***d on the back. Further the ends of the cat would stick together in one tourniquet, and the blows would become too heavy, traumatizing internal organs. Therefore, after each dozen blows, the executor of the punishment (usually the bosun or his assistant) separated the ends of the cat with tails stuck together from the b***d. To this day, the English language still retains the expression "To scrape the cat", translated as "to comb the cat", meaning today simply "to relieve suffering".