Cornelius, help with distance

[CaribbeanDiver]

Cornelius,

I was wondering if you would help me convert some distances.

I was cruising on the station 8 leagues from the Cape of Florida (How far is that?)

at daylight to my great surprise we was getting on a small sandy key about 1./1/2 cables length long and ./1/2 broad (how big is that in todays measures) which lay on the edge of the Bank of the .....

Thank you. Your posts are always fascinating. I am the opposite of you, all maging and diving, no researching I wish I had the patience.



Ricor

 

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[riobravo]

hi caribbean diver,
try this link, it has useful to me although you might need more definition on your units of measure your converting
http://www.onlineconversion.com/length_all.htmbeen
jas

 

[riobravo]

whoops try this
http://www.onlineconversion.com/length_all.htm

 

[stefen]

Another source is 'Architectural Graphic Standards'.

The U.S. Government Printing Service also puts out handbooks for conversion of all known measurements.

 

[rgecy]

CaribbeanDiver

What time period are these measurements from and what Nationality? Its makes a difference becaue a league varied and was changed over time.

I will still yield the question to Cornelius, but more information is needed to accurately calculate this.

As for a Cable length, I dont think that has changed. 1 cable = 608 ft

Good Luck,

Robert in SC

 

[riobravo]

hi again,
according to the table at the link i posted
british cable= 608 feet
international/us cable= 720 ft
but as stated by robert i also yeild to cornelius for final answers

 

[Narked1]

I agree with Riobravo's post. Working with the Egyptian Navy here, and Navigation equipment being my specialty, the Egyptian Navy Navigation Officers still measure distances in cables using the International measure of 720 ft. Leads to a bit of confusion sometimes when they are using charts that are measured in yards vice cables. (720 ft= 1 cable; 1 Cable = 240 yards; 240 yds X 8.333 = 2000 yds, or 1 nautical mile.) Now take a chart with a scale of 1:20,000 yards, do the math, and you can see how it might get confusing while navigating in close quarters.

 

[Darren in NC]

I'm not sure how far back this goes, but I know in the 1700's they would measure from the center of the reference point, not necessarily the shoreline. So if St. Augustine or Charleston was the reference point, you would measure from the center of town, not the edge of the shore where the city was located. I'm not sure how this would apply to the "Cape of Florida" (where is the center?), but I believe it is the single most overlooked detail that throws off most treasure hunters when trying to determine distance from archived records.