01-24-2009, 05:02 AM
Fathom:
Again I go to maritime folklore and how it came about.
Fathom is a unit of measure from the old British Admiralty that was used for sounding water depth but at that time it was only known as a stretch of the arms. This would very depending on who’s arms were stretched and in shallow water presented a danger to the vessel. A British captain solved the problem by taking the tallest crew member he had and mustered up the rest of the crew. The captain then tied a weight to a length of line and had the tall sailor stand in the weight he then stretched the line to the top of the sailors head and made a knot. The captain then had the sailor stand on the knot and again stretched the line to the top of the sailors head and made another knot. Doing this several times he then asked the sailor what his name was? The sailor responded and said “John Fathom sir” The rest is history.
The Lack
Again I go to maritime folklore and how it came about.
Fathom is a unit of measure from the old British Admiralty that was used for sounding water depth but at that time it was only known as a stretch of the arms. This would very depending on who’s arms were stretched and in shallow water presented a danger to the vessel. A British captain solved the problem by taking the tallest crew member he had and mustered up the rest of the crew. The captain then tied a weight to a length of line and had the tall sailor stand in the weight he then stretched the line to the top of the sailors head and made a knot. The captain then had the sailor stand on the knot and again stretched the line to the top of the sailors head and made another knot. Doing this several times he then asked the sailor what his name was? The sailor responded and said “John Fathom sir” The rest is history.
The Lack