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           This was a scene repeated thousands of times:  Four Dozen with the Cat-O-Nine Tails.  History, and Hollywood, has painted Captain Bligh (actually Lieutenant Bligh) of the HMS Bounty Mutiny as a cruel and harsh commander.  In fact, up until the time of the famous mutiny, Bligh was considered a fair and competent Ship's commander among his contemporaries.  Wahlroos writes "...For a true sadist... consider Captain Hugh Pigot of the HMS Hermione.  Pigot flogged his men frequently and severely for insignificant offenses and had killed at least two seamen with the cat-o-nine tails.  He often shouted to the men in the rigging that the last man down would be flogged.  A dozen men flogged in a day was not unusual on the Hermione under his command..." 

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