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 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