A man caught asleep for the third time was tied to the main mast with heavy iron gun chambers tied to his arms.

If he was caught again, he could be executed in a strange way. He was lowered in a basket from the bowsprit (that's the mast sticking out of the front of the ship).

He was given a tankard of beer, a ship's biscuit and a knife. He had the choice of staying in the basket until he died of thirst, cold or hunger, or cutting the rope and drowning.