the sun at noon
I should not , perhaps , have made use of this term , as it savours of tautology , the unfortunate chaplain having been industriously occupied in doing little else save `` bringing up '' all the time ; especially when we were pitching and rolling in the Bay of Biscay ! Every day , too , at a quarter of an hour before noon , we had to muster on the poop , where , under the tutelage of the master , Mr Quadrant , we watched for the dip of the sun ; and , as soon as the master reported that it was twelve o'clock to the captain , who told him `` to make it so , '' and Eight Bells was struck on the ship 's bell forwards , we would adjourn to the gunroom below . There we all worked out the reckoning , showing our respective calculations or `` fudgings '' as the case might be , to Mr Quadrant ; when if these `` passed muster , '' we entered the result in our log-books , along with other observations and facts connected with the daily routine of the ship and her progress towards her destination . To ascertain this , in addition to taking the sun at noon and noting the attitude of certain stars at night , the log was hove every hour ; and each of us learnt in turn to fix the pin in the `` dead man , '' as the log-ship is styled -- the triangular piece of wood , with a long line attached , by which the speed of the ship is ascertained . The first piece of this cord is termed the `` stray line , '' and is generally of the same length as the ship , so as to allow for the eddy and wash of the wake astern ; and , at the end of this stray line , a piece of bunting is inserted in the coil , from which a length of forty-seven feet three inches is measured off and a disc of leather put on the line to mark the termination of the first knot , or nautical mile . Two knots are put at the end of another length of forty-seven feet three inches ; three knots at a third , and so on , until as much of the line has been thus measured and marked off at equal distances as will test the utmost sailing capacity of the ship -- a single knot being placed midway , also , between each of these divisions , to denote the half knots . Two sand-glasses are used in connection with the log-line , as the old quartermaster , who was our instructor in this branch of our nautical education , explained , the one called `` the long glass , '' which runs out in twenty-eight seconds , while the other is a fourteen-second glass , which is generally adopted at sea when the ship is going over five knots with a fair wind .