The principal hoops of different kinds used for nautical purposes, are noticed under their several names, as mast-hoops, clasp-hoops, &c. In wind-bound ships in former times the left hands of several boys were tied to a hoop, and their right armed with a nettle, they being naked down to the waist. On the boatswain giving one a cut with his cat, the boy struck the one before him, and each one did the same, beginning gently, but, becoming irritated, they at last laid on in earnest. Also, a nautical punishment for quarrelsome fighters was, that two offenders, similarly fastened, thrashed each other until one gave in. The craven was usually additionally punished by the commander.