Has mutiny or piracy ever been punished with a mark or a brand?
October 8, 2015 6:24 PM Subscribe
I've been doing a great deal of research on the subject of tattoos and body markings and a question I've come across frequently (and found correspondingly very little literature regarding) is the use of tattoos or brands to indicate a punishment, specifically of crimes like piracy or mutiny. Is there any information on this topic?
Most of us are familiar with the "P" Jack Sparrow sports in Pirates but there doesn't seem to be much reliable evidence (that I've found) that this was a practice outside of the movie. Mutiny is frequently punished by death so markings weren't necessary but there are mentions in several texts I've found before that mention it without describing the design.
So were crimes like mutiny or piracy ever punished with a marking on the skin and if so what did the marks look like.
Most of us are familiar with the "P" Jack Sparrow sports in Pirates but there doesn't seem to be much reliable evidence (that I've found) that this was a practice outside of the movie. Mutiny is frequently punished by death so markings weren't necessary but there are mentions in several texts I've found before that mention it without describing the design.
So were crimes like mutiny or piracy ever punished with a marking on the skin and if so what did the marks look like.
There was a fad (well, I read it as a fad) of putting the first letter of various crimes on people's bodies, BTW, unsurprisingly smack dab in the middle of the golden age of piracy (when everyone was apparently dialed up to 11 no matter what their role in life.) A for adultery, B for burglary, and so on.
The Wikipedia article "human branding" has some citations, though in my opinion it seems more like something spectacular that people did relatively rarely and then talked about a lot; there's a lot of references to something being on the books, but not very many specific cases. Branding and tattooing of slaves, by comparison, is very clearly a regular (though not universal) actual practice.
And none of the citations happen at sea, which is a place I see having lots of knives and little patience or spare fuel. Even in the British Army the rule stating mutineers were to be branded lasted maybe twenty years.
I'd be very surprised to see a pirate tattoo inflicted by a British Navy captain as punishment instead of one obtained as a souvenir in Jamaica.
posted by SMPA at 7:13 PM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
The Wikipedia article "human branding" has some citations, though in my opinion it seems more like something spectacular that people did relatively rarely and then talked about a lot; there's a lot of references to something being on the books, but not very many specific cases. Branding and tattooing of slaves, by comparison, is very clearly a regular (though not universal) actual practice.
And none of the citations happen at sea, which is a place I see having lots of knives and little patience or spare fuel. Even in the British Army the rule stating mutineers were to be branded lasted maybe twenty years.
I'd be very surprised to see a pirate tattoo inflicted by a British Navy captain as punishment instead of one obtained as a souvenir in Jamaica.
posted by SMPA at 7:13 PM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
This article has some nice details from early American colonies:
Branding and maiming may shock us, but, Friedman says, for our colonist ancestors, "the sight of a man lopped of his ears, or slit of his nostrils, or with a seared brand or great gash in his forehead or cheek could not affect the stout stomachs that cheerfully and eagerly gathered around the bloody whipping-post and the gallows." In New England Jesuits and Quakers were particularly feared as "blasphemous Hereticks" for their "devilish opinions" and were banished, with orders never to return. The penalties for coming back were ears cut off, tongues bored through with a hot iron, and whipping until the blood ran.posted by flug at 7:31 PM on October 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
Burglary was punished in all the colonies by branding with a capital B in the right hand for the first offense, in the left hand for the second, "and if either be committed on the Lord's Daye his Brand shall bee sett on his Forehead as a mark of infamy." In Maryland, every county was ordered to have branding irons, with the lettering specifically prescribed: SL stood for seditious libel and could be burned on either cheek. M stood for manslaughter, T for thief, R for rogue or vagabond, F for forgery. In Maryland and Virginia a hog stealer was pilloried and had his ears cropped. For a second offense he paid treble damages and was burned with the letter H on his forehead. Double punishment if the hog stealer was a slave. The third offense brought death.
Best answer: In a forum Pyracy Pub → Re-enactment & Living History → Captain Twill discussing this,
As far as punishment for piracy, it might also be worth noting that in many places during the mid-late 17th C., piracy was not a capitol offense, therefore not punishable by death. I could be wrong, but I believe for instance that Massachusetts imprisoned the same men repeatedly for piracy and never hung them. I'll have to dig that source out too.
and
Charles Gray in PIRATES OF THE EASTERN SEAS discusses this, and mentions several cases where convicted pirates were branded with a "P"
following up:
google books has it but won't let you see more than a paragraph:
"… and John Naseby, Nicholas Dorrill, and John Read were branded on the forehead and hand with the letter "P" and sentenced to be de-"
--------------
Regarding desertion, according to
Spanish Seamen in the New World during the Colonial Period
Paul S. Taylor
The Hispanic American Historical Review
Vol. 5, No. 4 (Nov., 1922), pp. 631-661
Published by: Duke University Press
DOI: 10.2307/2506063
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2506063
"
...
Compared to the sea code of the Hanse Towns (which authorized branding on the forehead), the penalty for desertion stipulated in the Consulado was mild. The mariner was bound to make compensation to the owner for ...
"
Document discussed: James I of Aragon: The Barcelona Maritime Code of 1258
So there's something in the maritime law of the Hanseatic League (The Laws of the Hanse Towns (circa 1597) ) about branding deserting sailors.
Found it:
ART. XLIII.
If an officer or seaman quits a ship, and conceals himself; if afterwards he is apprehended, he shall be delivered up to justice to be punished; he shall be stigmatized in the face with the first letter of the name of the town to which he belongs.
http://www.admiraltylawguide.com/documents/hanse.html
This was deserting from merchantman, not men of war, in which case deserters were killed.)ref)
Note that I found one book that misascribed this branding instead to the Laws of Oleron, but following the citation the writer's reference got it right that it was the Laws of the Hanse Towns.
----------------
See also some bit in the eleventh section of the Consulado del Mare wherein stewards who cheated shipowners were branded on the forehead.
That should be in this tranlasted copy of Consulate of the Sea somewhere.
--------------
According to Chambers's Edinburgh journal and Farrows Military Encyclopedia the Mutiny Act of 1858 stipulated marking deserters with ink or gunpowder.
Note this addresses military deserters, not mutineers. But may refer to Navy mariners.
---------------
The one person I found branded for mutiny was an American navy sailor who ", The sailor in question, Robert Quinn, wrote a letter of complaint about “horrid ... (garbled text from non-full text search result thanks google) ... courtmartial ... his head and eyebrows shaved, branded in the forehead with the word Mutiny, ... (and flogged) ..." source: random digitized books.
-----------
From skimming, some older texts about Vagabonds Acts and pleading Benefit of the Clergy and criminal punishments and so on sometimes write "burnt in the hand" rather than using the words branded, btw. But that wasn't about piracy.
-----------
This was fun:
http://www.admiraltylawguide.com/historical.html
-----------
Poking around in random admiralty law I found more brandy than branding. I suspect that onboard, branding rather than killing a mutineer simply increased resentment, and on land caught mutineers may have been either killed or freed if circumstances dictated. But I didn't read up on it much or systematically.
I think generally branding someone as a pirate and releasing them didn't prevent them from taking up piracy again, whereas other punishments might.
And obviously people taken as slaves were branded.
posted by sebastienbailard at 1:48 AM on October 9, 2015 [2 favorites]
As far as punishment for piracy, it might also be worth noting that in many places during the mid-late 17th C., piracy was not a capitol offense, therefore not punishable by death. I could be wrong, but I believe for instance that Massachusetts imprisoned the same men repeatedly for piracy and never hung them. I'll have to dig that source out too.
and
Charles Gray in PIRATES OF THE EASTERN SEAS discusses this, and mentions several cases where convicted pirates were branded with a "P"
following up:
google books has it but won't let you see more than a paragraph:
"… and John Naseby, Nicholas Dorrill, and John Read were branded on the forehead and hand with the letter "P" and sentenced to be de-"
--------------
Regarding desertion, according to
Spanish Seamen in the New World during the Colonial Period
Paul S. Taylor
The Hispanic American Historical Review
Vol. 5, No. 4 (Nov., 1922), pp. 631-661
Published by: Duke University Press
DOI: 10.2307/2506063
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2506063
"
...
Compared to the sea code of the Hanse Towns (which authorized branding on the forehead), the penalty for desertion stipulated in the Consulado was mild. The mariner was bound to make compensation to the owner for ...
"
Document discussed: James I of Aragon: The Barcelona Maritime Code of 1258
So there's something in the maritime law of the Hanseatic League (The Laws of the Hanse Towns (circa 1597) ) about branding deserting sailors.
Found it:
ART. XLIII.
If an officer or seaman quits a ship, and conceals himself; if afterwards he is apprehended, he shall be delivered up to justice to be punished; he shall be stigmatized in the face with the first letter of the name of the town to which he belongs.
http://www.admiraltylawguide.com/documents/hanse.html
This was deserting from merchantman, not men of war, in which case deserters were killed.)ref)
Note that I found one book that misascribed this branding instead to the Laws of Oleron, but following the citation the writer's reference got it right that it was the Laws of the Hanse Towns.
----------------
See also some bit in the eleventh section of the Consulado del Mare wherein stewards who cheated shipowners were branded on the forehead.
That should be in this tranlasted copy of Consulate of the Sea somewhere.
--------------
According to Chambers's Edinburgh journal and Farrows Military Encyclopedia the Mutiny Act of 1858 stipulated marking deserters with ink or gunpowder.
Note this addresses military deserters, not mutineers. But may refer to Navy mariners.
---------------
The one person I found branded for mutiny was an American navy sailor who ", The sailor in question, Robert Quinn, wrote a letter of complaint about “horrid ... (garbled text from non-full text search result thanks google) ... courtmartial ... his head and eyebrows shaved, branded in the forehead with the word Mutiny, ... (and flogged) ..." source: random digitized books.
-----------
From skimming, some older texts about Vagabonds Acts and pleading Benefit of the Clergy and criminal punishments and so on sometimes write "burnt in the hand" rather than using the words branded, btw. But that wasn't about piracy.
-----------
This was fun:
http://www.admiraltylawguide.com/historical.html
-----------
Poking around in random admiralty law I found more brandy than branding. I suspect that onboard, branding rather than killing a mutineer simply increased resentment, and on land caught mutineers may have been either killed or freed if circumstances dictated. But I didn't read up on it much or systematically.
I think generally branding someone as a pirate and releasing them didn't prevent them from taking up piracy again, whereas other punishments might.
And obviously people taken as slaves were branded.
posted by sebastienbailard at 1:48 AM on October 9, 2015 [2 favorites]
In colonial Delaware one of the punishments for various crimes was branding (M for murderer and T for thief) but I've looked a bit and I don't see mention of mutiny.
The Delaware laws called it being "burnt in the hand" not branding, so that might help with your research.
posted by interplanetjanet at 2:14 PM on October 9, 2015
The Delaware laws called it being "burnt in the hand" not branding, so that might help with your research.
posted by interplanetjanet at 2:14 PM on October 9, 2015
This thread is closed to new comments.
I always thought it was really impractical to brand someone as punishment, particularly at sea. Branding is an enormous logistical hassle, whereas an amputation requires two minutes, a halfway decent knife, and slightly more intestinal fortitude than you need to be as successful fisherman.
posted by SMPA at 7:00 PM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]