Ship’s 14-Second Sand glass, late 19th or early 20th Century
notes: label: Description
content: This sand glass consists of a four-legged wooden frame, a circular top and bottom and two connected glass bulbs containing black sand. One leg is newer and attached with a nail instead of a wooden peg like the others, indicating a repair.
label: Description
content: Sailors used this type of sand glass to measure the speed of a vessel; longer-timed examples were used to time duty watches. To measure speed, a triangular piece of wood connected to a rope knotted every 43.7’ was thrown overboard into the sea. One sailor would let the rope out; another would watch the sand glass. After 14 seconds, the number of knots would be multiplied by two to learn the speed of the ship. The first mention of a sand glass and ship log was in 1574; however the tool probably was used for some time before this date.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Maritime
label: See more items in
content: Transportation
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content: Maritime Objects
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: TR.323699
label: catalog number
content: 323699
label: accession number
content: 253104
objectType: label: Object Name
content: sand glass, 14 second
label: Other Terms
content: Maritime
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: glass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: sand (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 4 1/2 in x 3 in; 11.43 cm x 7.62 cm