Welcome back to another blog hop, with #OpenBook. Here’s this week’s prompt.
Don’t forget to click the link to see what everyone else has to say on this week’s subject. It’s at the end of my post.
Have you ever kept a diary? Are you still keeping one? How often do you add an entry?
I’ve never kept a diary, if by that you mean a personal record. I’ve never felt the desire to record my daily life; it all seems pretty boring to me.
BUT
I’ve kept more than enough logbooks. Like this one.
That’s the latest version of a Merchant Ship’s Official logbook, the legal record of what the ship did over the period of a crew agreement. Everything of note that happened will be in there, recorded for posterity.
There was a penalty for making incorrect or misleading entries. And for not recording things that later proved to be important. When completed, the book was lodged with the Government department responsible for shipping. I suspect that all of mine are still there, in some Indiana Jones-style warehouse.
But that wasn’t the only logbook kept on a ship; that was just the principal record, one that could be used as primary evidence in any disputes.
There was also the deck log book, a record of the navigation and cargo operations on the voyage. This one was completed in four-hourly slots, by each watch-keeping officer in turn.
Next, we come to the Meteorological log, a six-hourly record of the weather conditions at the ship. The observations were sent by radio to the nearest appropriate country’s weather service for use in forecasting and climate analysis.
If that wasn’t enough, there were others, too. Recording all aspects of keeping a ship and crew safe and working the job. I could bore you with a list, but I think you get the picture.
The ironic thing is that I went to sea because I didn’t want to work in an office, pushing papers around.
The other effect of all that log-keeping was to remove any desire I might have had to ever keep a diary.
What do you think about this week’s subject?
Let me know by leaving me a comment.
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I’ll be back with another post on Thursday. See you then. Meanwhile, have a great week.
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Stevie Turner
Wow, that’s a lot of paperwork! Does ‘recorded for posterity’ mean it’s all kept secret or does it include access for the public?
Richard Dee
It’s not secret, merely kept as an official record in case of litigation, insurance claims and the like. You can apply to the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen for details, if you have a good enough reason. After so many years, like the census, they are released for public consumption.
Janice Matthews
Interesting!
Richard Dee
At the end of a voyage, it was strange to see four or five months activity reduced to several pages of sparse, official prose.
P.J. MacLayne
At one of my jobs, I helped maintain the records of other employees. We had to keep them locally for 7 years, after that they were stored in salt caves by another company for I forget how many years.
Richard Dee
I know the Registrar has merchant vessel logbooks going back to the early Victorian era, goodness knows how many they have.
Kelly Williams
Space log. Star date…
A very important record!! These are gold for historians.
Richard Dee
I’d love to explore the archive, not online, in a dusty warehouse.