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A ship’s log book is a legally admissible document which may be introduced in a court of law (normally an Admiralty court) as evidence of a ship’s navigational position, condition and maneuvers. A journal is an informal document, but very often in the same format as a log, so it is often difficult to distinguish between official and informal documents.

The collection consists of 73 logs and journals covering several dozen voyages in over 66 different ships. The earliest is dated 1751 and the latest is 1935, however, the majority took place in the first half of the 19th century. Many of the logs were donated by Alfred Mansfield Brooks, a former Director of the Museum.

Read the finding aid here.