What speed do ships use?

So, you’re wondering about ship speed, huh? It’s actually kinda interesting. They don’t use miles per hour, like our cars, you know? Nope, they use knots. I always thought that was a bit quirky, myself. Like, what’s a knot anyway? Sounds more like something you’d tie a rope with than measure speed!

Turns out, a knot is a nautical mile per hour. And a nautical mile? That’s a bit longer than a regular mile – about 1.15 miles, to be exact. So, a ship going 10 knots is actually going about 11.5 miles per hour on land. Makes sense, I guess, when you think about it. I remember once being on a ferry to Catalina Island – that was a pretty fast one, I think it was doing close to 20 knots, which felt really speedy, especially when you consider the waves! It was like flying across the water, almost.

Anyway, it’s just a different unit of measurement. Kind of like how we use different measuring cups depending on if we are baking or doing some other kind of cooking. Gotta keep those units straight, or you end up with a whole lot of mess! Or, in the case of ships, maybe a whole lot of time wasted if you’ve miscalculated your speed and arrival time!