Does anyone measure distance in "Cables"?

[StuM]

Originally Posted by skipmac

Units approximately equal to 31 meters?

I think I'll start measuring distance in stadia.

The three basic dimensional units are Mass, Distance and Time.
The standard international (SI) System of Units use the Meter,Kilogram and Second.

But the system we should all be using is the FFF System where the base units are: Furlong, Firkin and Fortnight.

1 British/International Cable = 0.92 furlongs
1 US Cable = 1.09 furlongs.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Saleen411

Anybody use the term "shots" when anchoring?

Only with all chain

[Snowpetrel]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

Its still in my vocab....

Yes... I would use it in that situation.... Ranges go thus.... a mile, a bit less than a mile, half a mile, ( maybe ) a quarter of a mile, 3 cables, 2 cables, a cable, a hundred metres ( or yards), 50 metres, 'brace yourself, sheila!!'....

I would use it for distance off other ships or the land etc.... its a handy part of a mile... what else would you use? Metres? cubits??

I am with you here Ping.

It's a pretty standard british merchant navy term (so also aussie and kiwi MN as well, not sure if the yanks use it?). Much better than saying 0.2 nautical miles , which gets pretty clumsy.

We normally measured anchor chain amounts in shackles.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

Its still in my vocab....

Yes... I would use it in that situation.... Ranges go thus.... a mile, a bit less than a mile, half a mile, ( maybe ) a quarter of a mile, 3 cables, 2 cables, a cable, a hundred metres ( or yards), 50 metres, 'brace yourself, sheila!!'....

I would use it for distance off other ships or the land etc.... its a handy part of a mile... what else would you use? Metres? cubits??

'brace yourself, sheila!!' ?

I thought that was Australian foreplay.

[Symphony]

"Cable" is used in RYA navigation exams.

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by roverhi

So how long is a cable??

Depends on where you cut it.

[Teknishn]

The Egyptian Navy uses the term "cable" as well. Usually when talking about distances while anchoring. All other distance measurements are based on 2000 yds for a NM.

Shots? Oddly enough, the insurance underwriter for my current project asked how many shots of chain we have onboard (Two.....one shot in the port chain locker, one shot in the starboard. Each with an additional 15-meters from the shot mark to the bitter end). So yes, "Shot" is still being used.

[basenay]

In 50 years of boating including 12 full time cruising including a circumnavigation I have heard it over the radio for the 1st time 4 years ago in NW Passage near Nassau on a Friday night. AIS had us crossing between 6 cruise ships, 4 NE to SW & 2 the opposite direction. While I was determing whether we would need to alter course heard one ship ask the other if he needed them to alter course to avoid the little sailboat (us) and response was AIS had CPA as 4 cables and everyone should hold course. Quick confirmation of what a cable ( 0.1 NM) was and we passed eveyone without need for course change but did get some good, up close looks at the cruise ships including watching a little of a movie playing on a big screen topside. Love my Comar CSB200 AIS transponder!

[TrentePieds]

Seems to me the metric system, being "rational" is entirely outta place when dealing with things - ships, houses - that accommodate or relate to the human body in any way.

Grew up with Metric, was gob-smacked when I came here to the Colonies, "transisted" and found how convenient, how handy, how tidy our "irrational" English system is.

Used to drive the young "service associates", in Danish lumber yards around the bend by asking for the dimensions of sheets of plywood. "Uhm... lemme check, Sir. Be right back!" Dickey-bird comes back: "Onethousandtwohund-redandnineteen millimetres by twothousandfourhundredandthirtyeight millimetres, Sir. See - it's stamped right here in the corner!" The sheet with that misbegotten stamp in the corner is, of course, yer standard 4x8 sheet made just down the road from me.

Problem is spurious accuracy. Doing distance off, a "cable" is a damn handy measure. I don't really care (mostly) if I'm 547 feet or 612 feet off. Both precise measures count in my mind as "a cable". As Ping sez without saying so explicitly all measures beyond a feet are, for most purposes, quite "stretchy"

Given that, for TrentePieds, a cable happens to be 20 lengths, once we get below the cable when maneuvering, I tend to perceive distances in lengths until we get REALLY close. Then it's feet for me.

Rationalism and Metric System be damned :-)!

TrentePieds

[wayne.b]

Originally Posted by Saleen411

Anybody use the term "shots" when anchoring?

===

I was on a sailing cruise ship last year called the Star Flyer. As part of their anchoring routine, a crewman would let out a length of chain, stop, and ring a bell a certain number of times. At the next opportunity I asked the captain what was the significance of the bell? He said that each ring was equal to one shot of chain or 15 fathoms. I'd never heard that expression before but it's apparently common among professional mariners.

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...k1.8kEo1DkA9A0

[jackdale]

I have heard the Canadian Coast Guard use "cable" in their broadcasts. I happen to like the term. On many of my charts, the latitude scale is shown in 1/10 of a minute, which is a cable.

[Teknishn]

You might be a professional Mariner if someone asks you where your car is parked, "No worries Mate, it's about a couple of cables up the road"

[redhead]

Question: What's better than sitting, hot cuppa in hand, reading about the horrible sea otters one minute and next reading a portion of the "Wreck of the Hesperus"? I ask youz............

[captmikem]

Cables and shots (or shackles, each shot of chain is shackled together) are common terms on ships. For instance in a log you might read"

Anchored with 4 shots in 15 fathoms, 3 cables south of rocky point bearing 020T

Or I might write in the Night Orders book "Call me if any vessel comes within 5 cables"


And of note, when anchoring I might call for 5 shots, the mate on the bow will ring out the chain at each shackle 1 ring one shot, 2 rings 2 shots, etc. The same when heaving, that way I know how much chain is out at any particular moment during anchoring and heaving chain.

Hope this helps,

Michael

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by Saleen411

Anybody use the term "shots" when anchoring?

Not since I was a cabin boy. Is a shot not a weight of chain measuring the amount that can be put in a barrel?