Branding: A VERY Permanent Pirate Punishment...

If you’ve watched any sort of film about pirates or seen any of our other videos on this channel, you’ll know that pirates were a bit of an unruly bunch – they lived outside the law for the most part, drank far more than is healthy, and generally didn’t like to follow rules. But the nautical life is not a forgiving one. One misstep could see the entire crew going down with their ship, and mutiny was an incredibly dangerous concept. So how could pirate captains keep control of their crew when the rum was flowing and people started getting ideas?

We’ve explored different punishments in other videos from the cat o’nine tails to piratical prison, but today we’re going to look at one that’s a whole lot more permanent: human branding. How common was branding as a punishment? Did pirates do it to each other, or just to deserters who’d had enough of life on the high sea and wanted to jump ship?

00:00 Introduction
00:55 What Did Branding Entail?
03:07 The Risks Involved
05:04 As A Punishment
06:41 How Prevalent Was Branding?
08:36 Burning, Not Branding?

If you enjoyed this video and want to stay updated on our latest content, be sure to hit the like button, subscribe to our channel, and turn on notifications. We're constantly working on new and exciting videos, so stay tuned for more!

Thank you for your support, and we'll see you in the next video! #walktheplank