John Barberias age 9o of Bridgeport,CT
How is a land mile different from a sea mile?
A car speedometer checks off the miles along the road. Each ones, of course, is 1760 yards or 5280 feet. Multiply the last number by 12 and you have the number of inches in a mile. This is a land, or statute, mile, The sailors mile is somewhat longer. .
The sea mile. is also called the nautical mile and the geographical mile, It is more logical than the land mile. When a ship has sailed a nautical mile the captain knows that she has gone a certain proportion around the earths surface. For a nautical mile is 1/21600 of a great circle of the earth. This fact helps him in his navigation calculations.
The English estimate the nautical mile as 6080 feet. The Americans estimate it as a shade longer. Their sailors mile is 6080.27 feet. The International Hydrographic Bureau suggested an even more precise nautical mile. In 1929 they reported that the exact geographical mile should be 6076.097 feet. Several countries have adopted this measure. The knot should not be confused with the nautical mile, It is a rate of speed. One knot means that a ship is traveling one sea mile an hour. At 30 knots the ship is sailing over the sea at 30 nautical miles an hour.