Yards to Fathoms (yd to ftm)

1 yard equals 0.5 fathoms exactly.

1 yard = 0.5 fathoms

How to convert yards to fathoms

To convert yards to fathoms, multiply the number of yards by 0.5. This factor is exact. To go the other way, multiply fathoms by 2.

fathoms = yards × 0.5

Example: 10 yards = 5 fathoms.

About these units

Yard (yd)

US & ImperialCurrent unit

3 feet or 36 inches, exactly 0.9144 meters. Used for sports fields, fabric and short distances in the US and UK.

Yard descends from the Old English gerd or gyrd, meaning a branch, stave or measuring rod. It first appears in the late seventh-century laws of Ine of Wessex, though there it names a tax unit, the yardland. Around 959 to 963 King Edgar ordered that the measure held at Winchester be used throughout his realm, the earliest record of a prototype. A story that Henry I fixed the yard as the distance from his nose to his thumb is later folklore, and the true origin, whether pace, cubit or waist, remains speculative.

Britain defined the Imperial Standard Yard in 1824 as the distance between two marks on a brass rod at 62 degrees Fahrenheit. A fire in 1834 damaged the standard, a replacement was made in 1845, and the Weights and Measures Act 1855 recognized it. The 1959 international agreement then fixed the yard at exactly 0.9144 meter. Today it measures American and Canadian football fields, association football pitches and cricket pitches, appears on UK road signs for short distances, and is still used to sell fabric in the US and UK.

1 yard = 0.9144 meters (exactly).

Sources: Wikipedia: Yard; Wikipedia: Inch; NIST Guide to the SI, Appendix B.8: conversion factors

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)

Related conversions

See all length units.