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| The three silver dots are lead weights. |
I was looking through some old photos and came across these images of a reproduction that I made for the
Matthew Legacy centre in Bonavista about 10 years ago. Its a
chip log, used to determine the speed of a sailing ship. The triangular board was tossed from the stern of the ship and dragged behind the vessel. As it dragged, the line would unspool from the reel. At certain intervals there was a knot of fabric tied to the log line. Each interval was marked with a different colour and texture of fabric so that the sailors could recognize them by both sight and feel. Using an hourglass as a timer they would count the number of knots unwound from the reel in a set amount of time. This is where the term "knot" came from to refer to the speed of a ship.
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| Oak, hemp line, assorted fabric knots, lead |
Photo Credits: Tim Rast
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