A crude wallop from an irate mother or belting from a father was the limit of it. Nevertheless, boys of all backgrounds were liable to bare-bottom discipline as soon as they joined the Navy. It is not clear just how far back this tradition goes. There were ships' boys in the 16th century and they certainly received corporal punishment. By the 18th century we have reliable accounts of the punishment of midshipmen.
Youth often runs wild and riotous, and requires a tight hand to keep it within bounds.
No doubt we all deserved it, and were thankful that we were punished in the cabin instead of upon deck, which was not uncommon in other ships of the fleet. Sunday 23 August 1801 Punished Geo. Duval, Midshipman, with 21 Lashes. This provoked the boy's father to write an anguished letter to the Captain, Sir Edward Hamilton, complaining of ill-treatment. It seems to have been during the late 18th and early 19th centuries that matters of naval discipline gradually began to be more standardized.