Fathoms to Kilometers (ftm to km)

1 fathom equals 0.0018288 kilometers exactly.

1 fathom = 0.0018288 kilometers

How to convert fathoms to kilometers

To convert fathoms to kilometers, multiply the number of fathoms by 0.0018288. This factor is exact. To go the other way, multiply kilometers by 546.8066492 (rounded).

kilometers = fathoms × 0.0018288

Example: 10 fathoms = 0.018288 kilometers.

About these units

Fathom (ftm)

NauticalTraditional unit (still used in some regions)

6 feet (1.8288 m), traditionally the span of a man's outstretched arms. Still used for water depth on nautical charts in some countries.

Old English fæðm meant a pair of outstretched arms, and the word gave English its fathom. That is the origin of the measure: the span between the fingertips of a man with his arms spread wide, roughly the height of a person. Because bodies differ, the fathom was not fixed for centuries. Merchant ships are recorded as using about five and a half feet, and fishing boats five or seven, until the length was settled at six feet in the nineteenth century.

Sailors counted in fathoms because a hand sounding line carried marks at fathom intervals, so the depth could be read off when the weight touched bottom. Water shallower than 100 fathoms was said to be in soundings. Anchor chain and fishing line were also sold and counted in fathoms. The figure used here is exactly six feet, or 1.8288 m, which makes two yards one fathom. Most charts today show metres, though some national charts still print fathoms.

1 fathom = 1.8288 meters (exactly).

Sources: Wikipedia: Fathom; NIST SP 811, Appendix B.8 (length conversion factors)

Kilometer (km)

Metric (SI)Current unit

1,000 meters. The standard unit for road distances in most countries.

A name for 1,000 meters took a while to settle. In 1793 France's National Convention made the metre the sole French unit of length, and the first proposed name for the thousand-metre multiple was millaire. Everyday French usage then leaned on the myriametre, 10,000 meters, well into the 1800s. The Netherlands adopted the kilometre in 1817, under the local name mijl, and made it the only official unit of that size in 1867. In 1935 the CIPM dropped the myria- prefix, which left the kilometre as the standard unit for road-scale distances.

Kilo- is the SI prefix for a thousand, and the kilometre is now the preferred unit for land distances in most of the world, with the United States, the United Kingdom and Liberia among those that still use the mile. One kilometre is about 0.621 mile. The main span of Lisbon's 25 de Abril Bridge, at 1.013 km, gives a sense of the scale. Even its pronunciation has been argued over: in 1970 Australia's Metric Conversion Board made stress on the first syllable official, although Prime Minister Gough Whitlam argued for stress on the second. Military slang in several countries calls it a klick.

1 kilometer = 1,000 meters (exactly).

Sources: Wikipedia: Kilometre; Wikipedia: Metric prefix; BIPM: history of the metre

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