Persuaders were a form of cosh permitted to be used in the Royal Navy to force sailors to put more effort into their work. Not intended to punish, merely to persuade, it was essential that they did no bodily harm. The growth of whaling in the nineteenth century made more baleen available and it was a material particularly suited to persuaders. They were constructed with weighted ends covered in fine ropework with the centre connecting rod covered with twisted strands of baleen. Lightweight with a flexible haft, they may have been a common instrument on ships. Now very scarce.
Length. 280 mm. (11 inches).