MadSci Network: Science History |
In the old days, there weren't electronic speedometers. So every so often, to get a handle on the ship's speed, a sailor would throw a float overboard. The float was attached to a piece of rope with knots tied in it; the knots were a certain distance apart (I don't know the distance, sorry!) The sailor counted the number of knots that slipped through his hands in a fixed period of time, and reported the speed of the ship in "knots." For details, you may want to try a history of sailing ships. Dan Berger MadSci Administrator
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