Fathom 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 long (). A "shackle", a length of cable or chain equal to 12.5 fathoms or 75 feet. In 1949, the British navy redefined the shackle to be 15 fathoms. In Finland, fathom ("syli") is sometimes, albeit seldom, used as a maritime unit, of a nautical mile and of cable length. It is customary, when burying the dead, to bury the coffin at least to a depth of a fathom, or "six feet
How many angels can dance on the head of a pin? about how many could perch at the same time on the head of a pin"". Dorothy L. Sayers argued that the question was "simply a debating exercise" and that the answer "usually adjudged correct" was stated as, "Angels are pure intelligences, not material, but limited, so that they have location in space, but not extension." Sayers compares the question to that of how many people's thoughts can be concentrated upon a particular pin at the same time. She concludes that infinitely many angels can be located on the head of a pin, since they do not occupy any space there: