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‘K's and F's’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 November 2009

W. E. May  and
Charles H. Cotter
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I am indebted to Captain Duncan M. Henderson (Journal27, 536) for causing me to seek further than I had done previously to enable me to prove that ‘F’ in old log-books stood for fathoms and not fractions.

I would quote the following authorities who all state definitely that the ‘F’ meant fathoms and that there were usually eight fathoms to a knot, at any rate in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. They are:

Type
Forum
Information
The Journal of Navigation , Volume 28 , Issue 1 , January 1975 , pp. 92 - 97
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Navigation 1975

References

REFERENCES

1Henderson, D. M. (1974). K's and F's. This Journal, 27, No. 4.Google Scholar
2May, W. E. (1974). The log-books used by ships of the East India Company. This Journal, 27, No. 1.Google Scholar
3Cotter, C. H. (1970). A brief history of nautical logs, to A.D. 1800. This Journal, 23, No. 2.Google Scholar
4Moore, J. H. (1796). The New Practical Navigator, London.Google Scholar
5Raper, H. (1840). The Practice of Navigation and Nautical Auronomy, London.Google Scholar