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26-562: The Northern Belle was an American transatlantic ship which ran aground near Thanet , England , on 5 January 1857. No lives on her were lost, thanks to heroic rescue efforts, in blizzard conditions. However, another ship sank, en route to the scene, the Margate lugger Victory which was lost along with her crew. The Belle was constructed in 1853, under the ownership of J. P. Whitney and Co. of New Orleans . Her common routes were New Orleans to Liverpool and Le Havre , carrying wheat on

52-415: A quarter meant one-quarter of a fathom. A cable length , based on the length of a ship's cable, has been variously reckoned as equal to 100 or 120 fathoms. Most modern nautical charts indicate depth in metres. However, the U.S. Hydrographic Office uses feet and fathoms. A nautical chart will always explicitly indicate the units of depth used. To measure the depth of shallow waters, boatmen used

78-435: A sounding line containing fathom points, some marked and others in between, called deeps , unmarked but estimated by the user. Water near the coast and not too deep to be fathomed by a hand sounding line was referred to as in soundings or on soundings . The area offshore beyond the 100 fathom line, too deep to be fathomed by a hand sounding line, was referred to as out of soundings or off soundings . A deep-sea lead ,

104-596: A piece of the wreck taken from the recently raised hull, which was completely riddled with Teredo worm . A Margate beer shop was named the Northern Belle in 1858. The tragedy inspired several literary works including novels and poetry. Charles Mackay published a poem "Northern Belle – a tribute to the brave", in February 1857. Edwin Arnold wrote "The Wreck of the Northern Belle" with the proceeds to go to representatives of

130-688: Is equal to: In the international yard and pound agreement of 1959 the United States , Australia , Canada , New Zealand , South Africa , and the United Kingdom defined the length of the international yard to be exactly 0.9144 metre . In 1959 United States kept the US survey foot as definition for the fathom. In October 2019, the U.S. National Geodetic Survey and the National Institute of Standards and Technology announced their joint intent to retire

156-501: Is occasionally used: 1 ⁄ 1000 nautical mile or 1 ⁄ 100 cable length . A burial at sea (where the body is weighted to force it to the bottom) requires a minimum of six fathoms of water. This is the origin of the phrase " to deep six" as meaning to discard, or dispose of. The phrase is echoed in Shakespeare's The Tempest , where Ariel tells Ferdinand , " Full fathom five thy father lies". Until early in

182-497: Is usually translated as "fathom". By the Byzantine period , this unit came in two forms: a "simple orguia" ( ἁπλὴ ὀργυιά , haplē orguiá ) roughly equivalent to the old Greek fathom (6 Byzantine feet , c.  1.87   m ) and an "imperial" ( βασιλικὴ , basilikē ) or "geometric orguia" ( γεωμετρικὴ ὀργυιά , geōmetrikē orguiá ) that was one-eighth longer (6 feet and a span , c.  2.10   m). One fathom

208-606: The Illustrated Times of London advertised that they would print five engravings of the tragedy and portraits of the crew the following Saturday. It was reported on 22 January, in a letter to the London Evening Standard , that the ship and cargo were still on the reef, in good condition, and were salvageable. News of the disaster was broadcast world-wide, as far as the Sydney Morning Herald who picked up

234-463: The Belle on 21 November 1857 were unsuccessful despite successfully raising the stern out of the water with the help of four pontoons . One of the chains around the hull broke during the process, aborting the attempt. The masts disappeared from view in early December, and a green buoy marked "Wreck" was put in place 10 fathoms eastward from the stern. In June 1858 Canterbury Town Council, put on display

260-667: The Old English fæðm , which is cognate with the Danish word favn (via the Vikings) and means "embracing arms" or "pair of outstretched arms". It is maybe also cognate with the Old High German word "fadum", which has the same meaning and also means "yarn (originally stretching between the outstretched fingertips)". The Ancient Greek measure known as the orguia ( Ancient Greek : ὀργυιά , orgyiá , lit .   "outstretched")

286-653: The Victory crew. 51°23′40″N 1°25′40″E  /  51.39444°N 1.42778°E  / 51.39444; 1.42778 Thanet District Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.226 via cp1108 cp1108, Varnish XID 766296632 Upstream caches: cp1108 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Fri, 29 Nov 2024 05:49:12 GMT Fathom There are two yards (6 feet ) in an imperial fathom. Originally

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312-424: The 20th century, it was the unit used to measure the depth of mines (mineral extraction) in the United Kingdom . Miners also use it as a unit of area equal to 6 feet square (3.34 m ) in the plane of a vein. In Britain, it can mean the quantity of wood in a pile of any length measuring 6 feet (1.8 m) square in cross section. In Central Europe , the klafter was the corresponding unit of comparable length, as

338-483: The U.S. president Franklin Pierce had 21 silver medals struck and issued an award of £270 sterling for sharing amongst the rescuers, £10–£30 per man. The London Morning Chronicle of 9 October 1857 reported that the wreck was to be raised, and that chains had been fitted with a view of floating her with the aid of buoys at the next spring tides . Some Whitstable people had bought the hull for £260. Attempts to raise

364-561: The U.S. survey foot, with effect from the end of 2022. The fathom in U.S. Customary units is thereafter defined based on the International 1959 foot, giving the length of the fathom as exactly 1.8288 metres in the United States as well. The British Admiralty defined a fathom to be a thousandth of an imperial nautical mile (which was 6080 ft) or 6.08 feet (1.85 m). In practice the "warship fathom" of exactly 6 feet (1.8 m)

390-445: The coffee house. The Times reported on 5 March that the vessel was a shipping hazard and all her cargo had been salvaged except forty to fifty logs of mahogany . It was thought that only two barrels of dynamite would be required to destroy the wreck. The Liverpool Echo pointed out on 9 March 1857 that the wreck in foggy weather was an obstacle to navigation, "A few days ago a ship had a narrow escape by striking it." In April 1857,

416-468: The heaviest of sounding leads, was used in water exceeding 100 fathoms in depth. This technique has been superseded by sonic depth finders for measuring mechanically the depth of water beneath a ship, one version of which is the Fathometer (trademark). The record made by such a device is a fathogram . A fathom line or fathom curve , a usually sinuous line on a nautical chart, joins all points having

442-553: The main and mizzen masts were cut away by the crew at 6.30am. The Margate lugger Victory , along with the Ocean , and the Eclipse attempted a rescue and possible salvage. The Victory was lost along with her crew at 11.30 am. The storm raged all day and local lifeboats were not able to launch. The Belle parted from her anchors at midnight, and was driven onto the rocks beneath nearby cliffs, at Foreness Point . The crew lashed themselves to

468-409: The middle, was used to take fish from a larger seine . A line attached to a whaling harpoon was about 150 fathoms (900 ft; 270 m). A forerunner — a piece of cloth tied on a ship's log line some fathoms from the outboard end — marked the limit of drift line. A kite was a drag, towed under water at any depth up to about 40 fathoms (240 ft; 73 m), which upon striking bottom,

494-654: The one remaining mast and were spotted from the beach at dawn. Two lifeboats, the Mary White and the Culmer White , made three trips to rescue them. The lifeboats and crew were from Broadstairs and Margate. The Mary White had to be hauled and dragged two miles over fields of snow to bring it to a place from which it could be launched. Captain Tate and his crew from the Northern Belle were all saved. On 15 January 1857 (Thursday)

520-410: The outbound run. A barque of 1,150 tons burden with a crew of 23, she was on a voyage from New York to London, with a cargo of wheat, flour, and linseed cake , when as a result of an unusually heavy gale had to put into Kingsgate, Kent . She anchored 3/4 of a mile from the shore, however by 6 am she was riding heavily, the sea occasionally breaking completely over her. The storm was so ferocious that

546-569: The same depth of water, thereby indicating the contour of the ocean floor. Some extensive flat areas of the sea bottom with constant depth are known by their fathom number, like the Broad Fourteens or the Long Forties , both in the North Sea . The components of a commercial fisherman's setline were measured in fathoms. The rope called a groundline , used to form the main line of a setline,

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572-431: The span of a man's outstretched arms , the size of a fathom has varied slightly depending on whether it was defined as a thousandth of an (Admiralty) nautical mile or as a multiple of the imperial yard . Formerly, the term was used for any of several units of length varying around 5– 5 + 1 ⁄ 2 feet (1.5–1.7 m). The term (pronounced / ˈ f æ ð ə m / ) derives (via Middle English fathme ) from

598-637: The story from the New York Times . A benefit by "gentlemen amateurs" was held at the St James's Theatre , in London, on 7 February. On 23 February 1857 3,340 barrels of damaged American flour, part of the cargo, was auctioned off at the New Corn Exchange Coffee House, Mark Lane, London . On 2 March, another 450 barrels of damaged American flour and 20 barrels of damaged linseed cake was auctioned at

624-457: Was upset and rose to the surface. A shot , one of the forged lengths of chain joined by shackles to form an anchor cable, was usually 15 fathoms (90 ft; 27 m). A shackle , a length of cable or chain equal to 12 + 1 ⁄ 2 fathoms (75 ft; 22.9 m). In 1949, the British navy redefined the shackle to be 15 fathoms (90 ft; 27 m). The Finnish fathom ( syli )

650-593: Was used in Britain and the United States. No conflict between the definitions existed in practice, since depths on imperial nautical charts were indicated in feet if less than 30 feet (9.1 m) and in fathoms for depths greater than that. Until the 19th century in England, the length of the fathom was more variable: from 5 + 1 ⁄ 2  feet on merchant vessels to either 5 or 7 feet (1.5 or 2.1 m) on fishing vessels (from 1.7 to 1.5 or 2.1 m). At one time,

676-469: Was usually provided in bundles of 300 fathoms. A single 50-fathom (300 ft; 91 m) skein of this rope was referred to as a line . Especially in Pacific coast fisheries the setline was composed of units called skates , each consisting of several hundred fathoms of groundline, with gangions and hooks attached. A tuck seine or tuck net about 70 fathoms (420 ft; 130 m) long, and very deep in

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