Filed under Navy Ships and Logs: A Method Guide
What to check first in this record
Find a log from the ship's name and the dates of service, using the catalogue at The National Archives. A surname search will not find a log, because logs are catalogued by ship.
A suspicion written into a timeline as if it were a fact is hard to remove later, because every later entry gets built on top of it. A record set arranged by unit will not yield to a surname search, and a record set arranged by date will not yield to a unit search. Learn the arrangement first. Before you trust a match, ask what else it could be. A match with no rival explanation is stronger than a match you have not tried to break.
Common traps in this record type
Do not confuse a record that is hard to find with a record that does not exist. Difficulty is a property of the search, not of the record. A photograph, a medal, or a story that points to a unit the records do not support is a prompt for one more check, not evidence that the records are wrong. When a record set ends before your dates, or begins after them, the problem is coverage, and no variation of search terms will fix a coverage problem.
How do you read what you find?
A promotion, a transfer or a posting that looks sudden usually has an earlier entry behind it. Work backwards from the surprise, one dated entry at a time. Do not carry a final rank, a final trade, or a final unit backwards through a career. Every entry belongs to its own date, and the career is the sequence, not the endpoint. Keep the original terms in your transcription and put your interpretation in a separate column. A transcription that already contains conclusions cannot be checked by anyone else.
The order to work in
Do not skip the step that checks the filters. It feels redundant when the filters seem obvious, and it is the step that catches wrong persons. If a step takes you to a holder, a catalogue, or an archive, fix the reference before you go. A visit or a request without a reference wastes the visit. Let dates set the sequence. When the order is unclear, sort by date and work forward, because records explain the entries that follow them, not the ones that precede them. Note the date you consulted each source. Catalogues change, holdings move, and a note without a consultation date cannot be rechecked.
| Step | What to do |
|---|---|
| 1 | Fix the ship and the drafting dates from the personal file before opening any ship record. |
| 2 | Open the log for those dates only, and note its reference. |
| 3 | Check crew lists and muster entries against the personal file, name, rating and dates together. |
| 4 | Use action reports and photographs only after the log for those dates has been read. |
As an illustration only, suppose a log entry records an incident but names no ratings: the log still fixes the ship place and date, and the personal file is what ties your person to that ship on that date.
The next record in the chain
Check whether the next step is already answered in your notes. Reopening a record you have already mined wastes the session that could have advanced it. Let the dates decide the direction. The next record should cover the dates the timeline is weakest on, not the dates it already covers well. Keep the person, the number and the dates together, and the rest of the chain follows.
Primary sources for this guide
Claims in this guide are kept general and point to official holders, so you can check the current position with the holder itself. This guide is general educational information only. It is not personal professional advice, it does not offer a record lookup service, and it does not determine any individual's service.