Tea boarding

I found this image in a history book at the Blue Mountain Center. The caption read "The punishment of an English spy." They are water boarding him with tea. if you look closely, you can see a noose above him ... and making assumptions based on the weird looking legs, it appears he was also tarred and feathered, but I don't know. Either way, apparently we have been water boarding from the very first days as a country. But with Earl Grey. Interesting.

Edit:
Fun facts: Earl Grey tea was named after Charles Grey, the second earl in his line. He was Prime Minister to King William IV in the early 19th century. The legend is that the Earl was given the recipe by a Chinese mandarin with whom he was friends, and whose life he had saved. [link]