Tub

Throw a tub to the whale. To create a diversion in order to avoid a real danger; to bamboozle or mislead an enemy. In whaling, when a ship is threatened by a whole school of whales, it is usual to throw a tub into the sea to divert their attention, and to make off as fast as possible.

A tub of naked children. Emblematical of St. Nicholas, in allusion to two boys murdered and placed in a pickling tub by a landlord, but raised to life again by this saint. (See Nicholas.)