In 1980 I spent 6 months on board HMS Bristol, learning about the ship. During this time I had to write ‘journal articles’. The journal itself has a document number: S.519 and it came with a fairly detailed set of instructions, directing its use during 4 terms at Dartmouth and then during one’s Fleet time. I felt lucky not having been compelled to keep one, either at university or during my general naval training. The journal articles that I wrote on HMS Bristol were marked by the ship’s Weapons Engineering Officer (WEO), the Junior Officer’s Training Officer (JOTO) and the ship’s Education Officer (EDO). It was even periodically seen by the ship’s Captain. There are two things that still surprise me about the journal – firstly, how seriously it was taken, and secondly how rubbish mine was. Reading through it now, the comments are still pretty damning. The first article is riddled with spelling errors. After the second article, the EDO wrote “There can be no excuse for the spelling mistakes you made in this article.” I remember being quite pleased with the third article “Peas, Potatoes, Puddings and Pies” – an account of time spent in the ship’s galley, but the WEO commented: “this is what I call a ‘Sunday letter home’ type article and it is out of place in a journal.”. I won’t go on, except to say that the criticism does seem to have worked – some of the later articles were a little better.