Green’s Dictionary of Slang

to duck in a pond, a punishment sometimes meted out to pickpockets captured at fairs or races.

1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang. in McLachlan (1964) 237: draked ducked; a discipline sometimes inflicted on pickpockets at fairs, races, &c.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.