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
Fathom the Bowl will roll overhead, in a cold country like England in wintertime. The song implies a camaraderie with all those who hear the song and is ideal for singing in a chorus. Appropriately, there is a beer made by the brewery called "West Berkshire" called "Fathom the Bowl". The earliest printed broadside are Such (London, between 1863 and 1885), Fortey (London, between 1858 and 1885), Hedges (London) and Pitts (London). The song was published in 1891 in a songbook, "English Folk Songs" by William Alexander Barrett. It was collected by Sabine Baring-Gould, Cecil Sharp (1907) and George Gardiner (Hampshire 1906). There