According to literature, to walk the plank is to walk off a wooden plank extending from a ship in order to drown. One might be blindfolded, or have the hands bound to prevent people who walk the plank from swimming to safety. It is in fact, untrue that this was a common practice during the glory days of pirates. Actually, most commonly, sailors were punished in the 19th century through a practice called keelhauling.

Keelhauling is a severe form of corporal punishment that can result in death. In this practice, the sailor was secured to a rope that was tied to the other side of the boat. He would then be dragged underneath the ship, where he would run into barnacles attached to the ship, causing at minimum minor scratching, but most likely, severe cuts. This would be done quickly so the sailor wouldn’t drown; but sailors often did drown in the process.

The idea of “walk the plank,” seems to have originated from primarily literature sources like J.M. Barrie’s novel Peter Pan. It is likely that pirates needed no extraordinary means for executing sailors. A sword, a knife, or simply throwing someone overboard was likely to accomplish killing with less drama.

However, the idea of having to walk the plank to one’s own death caught on and has since been deeply romanticized in films about pirates. For example in the blockbuster film Pirates of the Caribbean, Elizabeth and Captain Jack are made to walk the plank. George Lucas also featured a walk the plank variant in Return of the Jedi when Jabba the Hut forces Han Solo to walk the plank over a giant worm that will presumably eat his body for centuries.

Naturally, the “walk the plank” scene in the many variants of the Peter Pan story are dramatic and effective because the children must choose to walk the plank or be pirates. The emphasis here is that it may be better to die than to be villainous and evil for life.

There is a hazing version of walking the plank that may be observed among training sailors. Only the victim’s hands are not bound, and he or she usually walks the plank into a safe pool. The term may also apply to party politics.

A political party may ask its members to walk the plank by making a possibly career ending vote. This is walking the plank because the person is forced to do something deadly, from a political standpoint. The politicians who walk the plank do not do so without considerable pressure from their party. They may only do this if the vote would somehow benefit the party in ways that make sacrificing one’s career worthwhile.