What Is A Knot?

It would be almost impoesible to make a professional sailor believe that every one on land does not know what a "knot" used in tbe nautioal sense is; and yet there are raany withont this knowledge. Jnst. now a great deal is beard abont the nnmber of "knots" tbe battleships oan make in a given time. Every ship oarries a log line. It is small and strong, with a triangular píate at tbe free end, so arranged tbat wben thrown into tbe water it stands erect and presents its foll faee to the snip. The line runs freely from a reel 80 the plate remains praotically stationary while the lino rnns ont. On the line are knots of colored yarn whoh gives naines to the line. Those knots are plaoed at distanoes propor tioned the same as thirty seconds ia to an hour. Tbat is, a knot on the line, the distance between two marks, is the one-bundred-twentieth part of a sea mile. The nnmber of knots which rnn off in half a minute then shows the nnmber of knots the ship is sailing an honr. A nautioal mile is 6,00.27 feet, while a statute mile is 5,280 feet. A "knot" is therefore 1.151 statute miles. Fifteen knots is 17.27 miles; t20 knots is 23 miles. To get the rate of any of the ehips reported in knots, in land miles, multiply the knots by 1. 151.