This section brings together the approximately 700 objects and photographs used in Canada's Naval History. Use this section to directly access objects and photographs grouped by type, as shown below, or use the search function above to search through them by title.

Taffrail Log

This device, named after the taffrail (the rail around the stern of a ship) measures the distance a vessel has travelled through the water.

The log worked by trailing a spinner (also called a "fish") in the water behind the ship. The ship's motion through the water caused the spinner to rotate, driving a mechanism that calculated how far the ship had travelled and indicated the results on a dial. Other versions of taffrail logs measured a ship's speed rather than the distance travelled.

Traffrail Log
CWM 19660074-009