Bobapingu
Veteran Member
I don't know anything about Jamaica but learnt surveying in the imperial days. The surveyor's "tape measure" is called a "chain" because it was a chain long, 10 chains to a furlong and 8 furlongs to a mile. It was not a traditional chain with links but a thin steel strip rolled up. Each time a measurement was taken, ambient temperature had to be measured and temperature corrections made for expansion or contraction of the chain. Corrections were also made for the slope of the ground. Measuring out distances was called chaining (probably still is) and the surveyor's assistant was called the "chainman" because they held the other end on the chain.
Coincidentally, one chain is 20.1168m. That was convenient for when we converted to metric and needed to eye in distances. You eyed in chains and multiplied by 20 to get it in metres. Incidentally, a seasoned surveyor could pace out a chain reasonably accurately by taking 20 paces of just the right amount of stretch.
Again, I say I know nothing about Jamaica but I suspect that the chain they refer to, is the imperial 66' and that the notion of it being the length of a chain used for slaves in a cute urban myth. However, a normal surveyors chain of the day, of which there would have been a few around, may have proved to be a convenient tool for transporting slaves.
