Fathom to the Old High German word "fadum" meaning embracing arms or a pair of outstretched arms. In Middle English it was "fathme". The Ancient Greek measure known as the orguia (, "orgyiá", "outstretched") is usually translated as "fathom". By the Byzantine period, this unit came in two forms: a "simple orguia" (, "haplē orguiá") roughly equivalent to the old Greek fathom (6 Byzantine feet, m) and an "imperial" (, "basilikē") or "geometric orguia" (, "geōmetrikē orguiá") that was one-eighth longer (6 feet and a span, m). One fathom is equal to: In the international yard and pound agreement of 1959
Deep Fathom the same time, Jack Kirkland is on an underwater salvage mission in the Pacific, trying to salvage gold bricks from a sunken Japanese ship when an underwater earthquake occurs causing an underwater volcanic eruption and the magma consequently consumes the ship taking all but one brick of the gold with it. Kirkland returns to his ship, a salvage boat - Deep Fathom, with the brick and shares the disappointment with his team when they are radioed by the U.S. Navy to go to a site close to where they are. Though reluctant, the Deep Fathom proceeds towards the co-ordinates given.