Series number

AWM35

Series title

HMA ships logs

Series contents range

29 Jun 1905 - 31 Dec 1954

Extent

31.5m

Access conditions

Subject to the Australian Archives Act (1983)

Agency controlling

CA 46, Department of Defence [III], Central Office

Custodial Agency

Australian War Memorial

Function

Log books of various types are an important part of life at sea.  During the Great War, the Royal Australian Navy, as part of the Royal Navy, was governed by the King’s Regulations. This document is the collection of orders and regulations which form guidance for officers in the armed services.  It is an interpretation and clarification of the structures embedded in Acts of Parliament. If the reigning Monarch is female, the book is titled the Queen’s Regulations.

 In 1862, the Queen’s Regulations listed a number of Ship’s Books, as well as a ‘correct and proper log book’, a “Remark Book” which recorded “every useful information regarding the places he may visit”, signal logs and much other documentation.

At Federation in 1901, the legal basis for Australia’s control of her own Navy was established, then recognised in 1902 by the creation of the “Commonwealth Naval Forces” and transfer of all state based Naval assets to the new federal body.

To interpret the new Act, in 1906 the Commonwealth issued a new set of regulations: The Defence Acts, 1903-1904; Regulations and standing orders for the naval forces of the Commonwealth of Australia, 1906. 

In 1910, the passage of the Australian Naval Defence Act reshaped the Navy from being a ‘brown water’ force tasked with defending Australia’s coastline to a “blue water” force, tasked with operations on the high seas.  Following the passage of this Act, Royal assent was granted for the CNF to be renamed ‘Royal Australian Navy (RAN), and for the use of His (or Her) Majesty’s Australian Ship (HMAS) in naming Australian warships. 

In the following year, the regulations were supplemented by the introduction of a system of Commonwealth Naval Orders, which announced amendments, deletion or addition of sections of the regulations.  This series ran from 1911 to 1976.  

By this time, as the complexity of ships and fleets was increasing, the system of logbooks was well organised and – as the Commonwealth Naval Order Number 100 of 1911 records – copies of the following documents were to be provided:

·         Signed copy of the Log Book and Engine Register to the Naval Secretary

·         Copies of all returns placed in the Ship’s Book

The same order states that: “In addition, King’s Regulations and Admiralty Instructions are generally to be complied with as regards to logs, registers and other ship’s books.”

For practical purposes:

·         the new regulations did not supersede the traditional reporting requirements, and

·         the Captain of each ship or establishment was required to provide copies of all documents of record to command on a regular basis.

Records would have been received by command and audited, or used in preparing higher level reports and documents, before being archived.

Provenance

Periodically, the Department of Defence evaluates record holdings for disposal, and those which qualify for retention on historical grounds, and are appropriate are transferred to the custody of the Memorial.  Over the passage of years these standards have changed several times, with the result that in this case only a selection of records have survived.

The first batch of these records was transferred to the Memorial in 1926, with subsequent batches arriving in 1939, 1941 and 1962.  Al those relating to HMA Ships during the Great War were entered into the AWM 35 series, which was updated in 1991 with the addition of signal logs from HMAS Sydney that had previously been filed in AWM 25.

This is not a complete set of Ship’s books, and researchers should note that other series of log books are held in the regional repositories of the Australian Archives.

Content

There are three main types of log books in the series:

1) SHIP'S BOOKS, recording the ship's description, dimensions and details of service, reports of inspection, repairs and alterations, and returns and certificates;

2) SHIP'S LOGS, it is widely believed that Ship’s Logs record a narrative of the activities of a ship. This is not correct, the narrative is contained in the Reports of Proceeding, and these can be found as series AWM78.  A Ship’s Log records, on a daily basis, distance run, standard compass course, wind direction and force, weather, temperature and information concerning supplies, water and fuel. The original ship's log (S.321) was maintained by the Navigating Officer from the time the ship was commissioned until it was paid off and functioned as a permanent record, while a copy of the log (S.321b) was transmitted to the Naval Secretary at the end of each calendar month (Navy Order 100/1911). A smaller version of the ship's log    (S.321a) was used as the original log for ships temporarily commissioned.

3) SIGNAL LOGS, including wireless telegraph logs, wireless telegraph cabinet logs and cypher logs. The signal log (S.323) contained the full signification in plain language of all visual and land wire or cable messages transmitted by or addressed to the ship. Logs marked "odd" and "even" indicate odd and even days of the month.

The wireless telegraph log (S.325) recorded all messages transmitted or received by wireless telegraph, logged in plain language, while the wireless cabinet log (S.325a) was a chronological record of all work carried out on the wave length on  which a ship was keeping watch. The cypher log (S.323a) recorded in plain language all cypher messages received, sent or intercepted.

System of arrangement and control

The series has been arranged alphabetically by ship, with logs for naval establishments and appointments placed at the end. A two-number system has been imposed on the series ([1/1]-[33/1]), the primary number indicating the ship/naval establishment and the secondary number being a particular item within that grouping.

Using the series

Each item in the series is recorded on the RecordSearch database which researchers can view on the internet.  Further assistance in finding relevant information may be gained from related series of records (click on Series Links at the bottom of this page)

Sources

Queens Regulations and Admiralty Instructions for the Government: Her Majesty’s Naval Service. HMSO, London, 1862

Commonwealth Naval Orders, 1911

RAN official web site: http://www.navy.gov.au/history/feature-histories/how-old-australia%E2%80%99s-navy, (retrieved 18/05/2016)