Miles

Occasional anglicization of Míl Espáine.

Defining the basic unit of distance in marine navigation
Boaters know two types of miles. On the Great Lakes, inland waters, and the Intracoastal Waterway, the statute mile of 5,280 feet or 1,760 yards (1,609 m) is used. On coastal and international waters, the nautical mile is used.For many years, the nautical mile was understood to be 6,080 feet, but modern surveying equipment has discovered that it’s actually 6,076.1 feet, or 2,025.4 yards (1,852 m). The nautical mile is defined as a minute of arc on the Earth’s surface, or 1/60 of 1 degree.For all practical purposes on a small boat, you can assume the nautical mile to be 2,000 yards. The cable is 1/10 of that, or 200 yards. It makes your calculations much easier and navigation doesn’t get much more precise than that on a small boat.Roughly speaking, a nautical mile is 1/7 larger than a statute mile. To convert nautical miles to statute miles, multiply nautical miles by 1.15—or multiply by 8 and divide by 7.To convert statute miles to nautical miles, multiply statute miles by 0.875—or multiply by 7 and divide by 8.See also Fathoms; Latitude, Longitude.