The Deckhand's Well-Meant Log Entry
You are the operator of an inspected 65-foot passenger vessel carrying 12 passengers on a sunset cruise out of Key West. At 1912 you hear a MAYDAY from a sailing vessel taking on water 6 miles north. You relay the distress to the Coast Guard on channel 16, stand by on 16, and at 1935 a helicopter arrives and asks you to illuminate the area. At 1950 the three persons are recovered by a nearby charter boat, and the case is closed at 2010. The vessel's station log is a bound book with numbered pages. At 2210 a deckhand, trying to be helpful, writes an entry in ink stating that the distress was received at 1905 and initials it with his own initials. You hold the MROP; he does not.
1. What entries must this evening produce, and who should be making them?
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Content of a defensible log for this evening:
- Date, and the watch period with the name of the person actually on watch on channel 16.
- 1912 - MAYDAY heard, identity and position of the distressed vessel, channel received on.
- 1913 (approximately) - relay to Coast Guard, station worked, channel used.
- 1915–2010 - standing by on 16, the helicopter's request, your action (illumination), the recovery by the charter boat, and the case closure.
- Any equipment or watch irregularity noticed during the period.
- Your signature as the operator making the entries.
Times: 24-hour clock, and pick one time reference and mark it (local or UTC). Mixing them in one book is how a two-hour discrepancy appears in an investigation.
Who: the person on watch and the operator of the station make the entries. The deckhand is not the operator and holds no credential; his note is a piece of information handed to you, not a station log entry. Accept the information, thank him, and make the entry yourself.
2. The deckhand has already written 1905 in ink and initialed it. How do you correct it, and what is not permitted?
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Permitted correction: draw a single line through the incorrect entry so that it remains fully legible, then write the correct entry nearby with the correct time (1912), your initials, and the date - and if the reason is not obvious, a one-line note: 'entered by crew unfamiliar with log; corrected by operator.' Then make your own proper entry for the event.
Not permitted: erasing, scribbling out so it cannot be read, correction fluid, removing or tearing out the page, rewriting the page, or leaving the wrong time standing because correcting it is awkward. A log with an obvious, explained correction is evidence of a functioning watch. A log with a clean page and a fabricated timeline is a problem in itself, and an altered or destroyed entry is a far more serious matter than a wrong time.
The reasoning to give the crew: the log's value is that it can be reconstructed and trusted months later by someone who was not there. Every correction must show what was originally written and who changed it.
3. The owner asks whether you also need to log marina reservation calls, radio checks, and the daily weather broadcast on channel 2. What is the right answer?
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No for routine administrative traffic. A log crammed with slip reservations and radio checks hides the entries that matter. What earns its place is the operational record: distress, urgency, and safety traffic; the watch maintained; required equipment status and failures; and anything a later investigation would need to reconstruct the trip.
But be consistent and apply judgement on the borderline:
- A radio check is trivial - unless it reveals a fault. The fault gets logged, not the check.
- A weather broadcast is routine - unless it is the receipt of a small-craft warning that changed your plan; that is a decision point worth a line.
- A DSC or GPS input failure is always logged, even if you worked around it, because the next operator inherits that condition.
Also tell the owner: the log is not discarded when it is full. Old logs are retained and available for inspection, for the period the rules set - check the current requirement rather than guessing a number, and store them aboard or at a known shore location.