]The offender was trussed up to a hatch grating and flogged by one of the bosun's mates. Midshpmen (i.e. teenaged officer candidates) were bent over the breech of a cannon and caned on the buttocks; this was called "kissing the gunner's daughter."

The whip 'cat o' nine tails' was swung with the arm fully extended. Hence the expression about enough room to swing a cat. It has nothing to do with cute moggies!

'Letting the cat out of the bag' refers to taking the whip out of the bag in which it was kept. So, if you've done something and get caught, you've let the cat out of the bag to whip you. In Nelson's navy, the bag was often specially made by the bo'sun or his mates out of red baize. The cat was also often specially made for the occasion out of a single piece of heavy rope, undone to make nine 'tails'.

If the captain were particularly sadistic, he would choose first a right handed 'whip hand', then a left handed one, so that the cuts made by the whip would cross in the flesh. This was called 'crossing the cuts'.