Fathom Britain, it can mean the quantity of wood in a pile of any length measuring square in cross section. In Hungary the square fathom ("") is still in use as an unofficial measure of land area, primarily for small lots suitable for construction. Fathom A fathom is a unit of length in the imperial and the U.S. customary systems equal to , used especially for measuring the depth of water. There are two yards (6 feet) in an imperial fathom. Originally the span of a man's outstretched arms, the size of a fathom has varied slightly depending on whether it
Fathom more variable: from feet on merchant vessels to either on fishing vessels (from ). At one time, a quarter meant one-fourth of a fathom. A cable length, based on the length of a ship's cable, has been variously reckoned as equal to 100 or 120 fathoms. Most modern nautical charts indicate depth in metres. However, the U.S. Hydrographic Office uses feet and fathoms. A nautical chart will always explicitly indicate the units of depth used. To measure the depth of shallow waters, boatmen used a sounding line containing fathom points, some marked and others in between, called "deeps", unmarked but