Deck log

The deck log, or deck logbook, is the bridge record of navigational activities and incidents of importance to safety, kept under SOLAS Chapter V Regulation 28. It must hold enough detail to reconstruct the complete voyage: courses and speeds steered, position fixes, weather and sea state, draft, pilot and tug times, watch handovers, and any incident. Each watch’s officer makes the entries and signs them; the master countersigns. Regulation 28 lets an administration approve another form, including an electronic record book, where the information is not in the ship’s log itself. The deck log is a legal document admissible as evidence and is distinct from the official log book required by national legislation for crew and statutory entries.