Ship's Logs

[pete-c]

This should be a simple one - for those in the know.

 

I am assuming it would have been the duty of one particular Officer to compile the daily Ship's Log.  In the case of Ark Royal, the same hand seems to be responsible for most of the entries throughout the war.  I note that the Officer of the watch initials the entries - am and pm, but who actually writes it up?

 

Peter.

[DavidOwen]

Peter

 

In the absence of an expert I shall have a stab for you (apologies if it is incorrect).

According to the Admiralty Instructions the Navigating Officer has responsibility for the Ship's Log (search log or go to page 343 here https://archive.org/details/kingsregulations01greaiala/page/n5 ) but the Officer of the Watch must sign off each relevant entry by initials. Note that the Deck Log is a separate entity.

Now, whether the Navigator actually wrote the log himself or had a Writer to do it for him, I do not know.

Hope it was helpful.

 

Regards

David

[pete-c]

David,

 

Many thanks for this.  It is indeed all helpful.

 

Cheers,

Peter.