Which is a navigation tool mariners use to estimate the speed of a vessel through the water?

A chip log, also called common log, ship log, or just log is a navigation tool mariners use to estimate the speed of a vessel through the water. The word knot, to mean nautical mile per hour, derives from this measurement method.

All nautical instruments that measure the speed of a ship through water are known as logs. This nomenclature dates back to the days of sail when sailors tossed a log attached to a rope knotted at regular intervals off the stern of a ship. Sailors counted the number of knots that passed through their hands in a given time to determine the ship's speed. Today, sailors and aircraft pilots still express speed in knots.