From the dept of bored desk job workers:
Keelhauling, while sounding innocuous enough, was one of the more brutal means of punishment short of walking the plank into the ocean which, while not as bloody, meant sure drowning as there was nothing to keep you afloat once you tired of treading water... but I digress.
The actual process involved tieing a stout rope around the victims legs or waist and throwing them overboard.
In front of the ship.
While the ship was making Best Speed with the wind...
The rope was long enough to allow the victim to be forced under the prow and under the length of the ship, 'hauling' them under the 'keel'. This wouldn't be so bad except for the barnacles.
For those land lub, er, lovers among you, a barnacle is a sharp edged rock-like deposit that contains a small sea creature. The barnacle acts as the shell for this creature and resembles a volcanic mountain with a large calderra. These are crusted quite thick along the bottom of the ship and so as the victim is forced by the rapidly moving current accross the bottom of the ship they are most often torn to shreds by the thousands of small yet sharp edged crustaceans. The other likely outcome was that the rope would be severed... yet if you survived you would be hauled up and your wounds treated (likely with wine or rum).
All this just for being lax with a few updates... it hardly seems fair
And now, back to something... worklike. *sigh*
Blessings
M < > <
Richard