Crew members kept journals of their daily lives to keep track of days, memories and accomplishments. We transcribed a young girls journal to reveal the simple daily life she was living. Mostly looking for animals out at sea and aimlessly walking around the deck. The men aboard the Essex would have kept a journal to share what they had come across. Unfortunately Ishmael being the only survivor and the ship wrecking there were no discoveries of any entries by the crew members. The logs provided detailed accounts of every aspect of their journey. It records dates, weather, passengers, destinations, boat maintenance. There are no limits to what can be recorded, as many or little details as the crew member or captain prefers.

Logbooks are helpful for future trips because you have a past recording of your journey, fuel usage, itinerary and hunts. They can also be helpful in the future for research. It shows the daily lives and how they differ from journeys at sea now. They may have used different terminology, equipment, seen animals that do not belong to that area anymore. It provides a timeline of the times seamen spend out on their journeys.v