It's up to you. Generally, flogging as practiced in the Navy left superficial scars but everyone scars differently and some people much more than others, particularly if he is of sub-Saharan African heritage. There's no reason why there couldn't be some stiffness of movement if you wanted.
Um, I'm only going by what I read from Alexander Kent, Patick O'Brian and co., not own research, but I don't expect anyone "flogged around the fleet" to survive.
On the other hand, should a man actually survive, it's unlikely they'd let him loll around recuperating for very long, so he wouldn't have too much chance to stiffen up. But I'd say his survival would be quite a talking point.
They've been ordered not to kill him, and he has access to excellent medical care. Because a powerful person wants him to survive (just). Also, the author wants him alive. :p
There are plenty of things he could get flogged for within the discipline of his own ship, if it's just the scarring you need him to have - talking back to an officer, raising a hand to an officer, fighting, getting drunk.
Also, not meaning to be awkward, and I know you said this is partly fantasy, but certainly in real life there was no such thing as "excellent" medical care at that time. Cut, cauterise, cover, hope for the best, was I believe about the size of it.
"Flogging around the fleet" seems far too severe a punishment for what you want here. It's a thousand lashes, evenly distributed around the ships in the area, and is effectively a death sentence, potentially carried out over years - and the years part is because medical assistance was rendered to the subject so that he could be well enough to endure the next round. Most subjects receiving lashes passed out at some point between twenty and thirty lashes. Maybe you'd like to look through the Articles of War for a crime deserving a lesser penalty?
I'm guessing even one stroke of the lash would leave a scar. I haven't time to check the Articles myself atm but I think it would be very easy for a man of spirit (or indeed spirits), with more mouth than common sense, to rack up a flogging or two on his own ship, where there is very little danger of him dying but a very high chance of carrying the scars forever.
Comments 9
Reply
Reply
Reply
On the other hand, should a man actually survive, it's unlikely they'd let him loll around recuperating for very long, so he wouldn't have too much chance to stiffen up. But I'd say his survival would be quite a talking point.
Reply
Reply
Yes, that would definitely work!
There are plenty of things he could get flogged for within the discipline of his own ship, if it's just the scarring you need him to have - talking back to an officer, raising a hand to an officer, fighting, getting drunk.
Also, not meaning to be awkward, and I know you said this is partly fantasy, but certainly in real life there was no such thing as "excellent" medical care at that time. Cut, cauterise, cover, hope for the best, was I believe about the size of it.
Reply
Reply
Reply
There's a great and tragic scene in Nick Cave's "The Proposition" that deals with the aftermath of such a punishment.
Reply
Leave a comment