Sailors were not allowed to sleep on watch, and the punishments for doing so were severe.

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.

The punishment was to be lowered in a basket from the bowsprit (that's the mast that sticks out of the front of the ship).

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