Fathoms vs Feet

[Fish Tales]

It is fancy and we get to think we are talking in code...

Why Knots?
Why are ropes lines?
Why is it a head and not a restroom?
Why is it a salon or saloon and not the cabin?
Where the hell is the lazarette?
Bow? Stern? Forward? Aft? Port? Starboard?

Could be worse - you could be a blow boater...
Why the hell do they call a line a sheet?

I can answer that and I AINT A BLOW BOATER, the reason they call a line a sheet is::::If their lines get tangled around their neck they are in a world of sheet

[Deep C]

A fathom (six feet) is the measure they used because of ease. It was supposedly about the width of a mans arm span so they could count the lengths quickly.
As for a knot. Thats a nauticle mile. which happens to be one degree of latitude. Makes it easy if you're navigating and don't have a GPS... A length of string or pints of a divider laid between points on a chart can then be measured by bringing it to the side of the chart where the latitude lines are. You then can tell your speed from it or tell how long it will take from point A to point B...

[Captain Jay Kavanagh]

It's deeper out there...

thats right, sounds better "100 fathoms" or "597 feet"

One of our local capts call in his bite depths in "fantoms" after 10 years I am still trying to figure out how many feet in a fantom.

Captain Jay "hoggin the hundred" Kavanagh

[ocnslr]

As for a knot. Thats a nauticle mile. which happens to be one degree of latitude.

One knot = one nautical mile per hour.

One degree of latitude = 60nm

One minute of latitude = 1nm

Speed was measured on old sailing ships using a chip log, and a line with knots in it....
In some sailing ships, speed was measured by casting the chip log from the stern. The log was relatively immobile, and attached by line to a reel. Some sources suggest that knots placed at a distance of 47 feet 3 inches (14.4018 m) passed through a sailor's fingers, while another used a 28 second sandglass to time the operation. The knot count would be reported and used in the sailing master's dead reckoning and navigation. This method gives a value for the knot of 20.25 in/s, or 1.85166 km·h−1. The difference from the accepted value today is a bit less than 0.02%.

[clt_capt]

Guess that explains why my boat is slower in knots than MPH

[Deep C]

One knot = one nautical mile per hour.

One degree of latitude = 60nm

One minute of latitude = 1nm

Speed was measured on old sailing ships using a chip log, and a line with knots in it....
In some sailing ships, speed was measured by casting the chip log from the stern. The log was relatively immobile, and attached by line to a reel. Some sources suggest that knots placed at a distance of 47 feet 3 inches (14.4018 m) passed through a sailor's fingers, while another used a 28 second sandglass to time the operation. The knot count would be reported and used in the sailing master's dead reckoning and navigation. This method gives a value for the knot of 20.25 in/s, or 1.85166 km·h−1. The difference from the accepted value today is a bit less than 0.02%.

I stand corrected... yes one minute... Not degree

[h2orowe]

I can answer that and I AINT A BLOW BOATER, the reason they call a line a sheet is::::If their lines get tangled around their neck they are in a world of sheet

Thats's funny Chris!!!!

[Sea Draggin]

I am fathomically challenged. I hate them, but then I am a little different. Coming out in the morning from the ditch, I want to be reading feet. Then I just don't feel like switching once offshore.

Maybe if I learn to love fathoms, I'll catch more.

[Glenn W]

I am fathomically challenged. I hate them, but then I am a little different. Coming out in the morning from the ditch, I want to be reading feet. Then I just don't feel like switching once offshore.

Maybe if I learn to love fathoms, I'll catch more.

I recon it's all in what you're used to. When I get a call saying they're in 273 feet, the ole index finger gets a lick and the cyphering begins. I usually figure it out about the time the bite stops---

[Tuna Taxi]

It's like any other lingo. OCNSLR is dead on for the historical origin, but it is a measure like any other.

Just think, if you tell the guys you saw a gobbler at the "old poplar bottom" yesterday, that don't mean shit to a yankee like me. But Glenn and the rest of the Rednecks would be there with 10 ga. loaded before you get there the next morning. It's just a matter of knowing what the other guy is talking about.

And by the way, the fish know fathoms so you'd better figure it out!