How far is a """"mil""""

[Mary E. Leveille]

My grandfather was a lighthousekeeper on the island of Storkläppen from 1900 to 1915. They would make boat trips into Västervik and I wonder just how far it was. In my Grandmothers writings she says it was 3 mil. But when I looked up mil in my Swedish dictionary it says that a mil is equal to about 10 Kilometers. That seems awful far, as they used to walk in on the ice in the winter. Thank you for any information.

[Erik Holmlund]

The dictionary is correct.
1 swedish mil = 10 kilometers.
 
On this map you see both Västervik and Storkläppen.

 
regards
Erik

[Mary E Leveille]

Erik
Thank you so much for the information and for the map. Looking at the map, I wonder if they went into Loftahammar or one of the other towns instead of Västervik. Västervik looks like it is further away then 30 kilometers.

[Anders Andersson]

If the scale ruler below is correct (I believe it is), then the distance as the crow flies between Västervik and Storkläppen rather looks like 15 kilometers. Maybe your grandmother was referring to the total roundtrip distance, going to Västervik and return in the same day?
 
I'm surprised though that someone would refer to a distance at see in landmil (10 km). Wasn't it normal to use the sjömil (nautical mile, 1.8?? [something] km) instead? Perhaps your grandmother was no stranger to unit conversions...

[Anders Andersson]

I meant distance at sea of course (same pronouncation easily confuses the spelling)...

[Lars Edmark]

1 nautical mile = 1852 m
 
BR
 
Lars