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 Five (novel) "Fathom Five" fleshes out the world war. The ongoing effects of four years of rationing are covered (examples: Chas putting a hole in his trousers; the items brought by the different protagonists to a beach picnic; the Ministry of Food invitation to "Try our delicious Woolton pie"—a not-highly regarded meat-free pie). There is reference to the diaspora that has fled to Britain including: Scandinavian fishermen, the Maltese underclass, and Jewish pawnbrokers. It is through one of these that Chas encounters a widow of the Arctic convoys, which puts a distinctly human perspective on war. In addition the sheer banality of