v. Also 7–9 -hale, 8–9 -hawl. [ad. Du. kielhalen (with the elements englished as keel, haul); cf. also G. kielholen, Da. kjølhale, Sw. kölhala, app. all from Du.
Du. kielhalen occurs in an ordinance of 1629; the punishment itself is mentioned, in an ordinance of 1560, as onder den kiele deurstricken; abolished in Holland in 1853.]
trans. To haul (a person) under the keel of a ship, either by lowering him on one side and hauling him across to the other side, or, in the case of smaller vessels, lowering him at the bows and drawing him along under the keel to the stern.
[1626. Capt. Smith, Accid. Yng. Sea-men, 4. To punish offendors … as ducking at Yards arme, hawling vnder the Keele.]
1666. Lond. Gaz., No. 112/3. He … caused Blake to be loaded with Chains … and … ordered him to be three times Keel-haled (as they [the Dutch] call it).
1751. Smollett, Per. Pic. (1779), I. xxv. 231. He ought to be keel-hawled for his presumption.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1789), Donner la grand Cale, to keel-haul; a punishment peculiar to the Dutch.
1831. Capt. Trelawny, Adv. Younger Son, I. 203. If I catch any more on board, Ill keelhale them.
1882. Standard, 11 Sept., 5/5. Two officers of Arabi’s army … had been keel-hauled, and had subsequently died from the injuries they received.
Hence Keelhauling vbl. sb., the action of drawing under the keel; the fact of being keelhauled; also Keelhaul sb., an act of keelhauling.
1753. Miss Collier, Art Torment., 15. Some sorts of curious marine discipline, as the cat-of-nine-tails, keel-hawling, and the like.
1821. Blackw. Mag., X. 366. Even previous to 1797 the old punishment of ‘keel-hauling,’ for slight offences, had entirely gone out.
1831. Capt. Trelawny, Adv. Younger Son (1890), 450. I was about to treat him with a keelhale.
