Captain's log


 * For the CCG with a similar name, please see CCG: Captain's Log.

The captain's log was a form of log entry record-keeping that was used since the first captains sailed Earth's seas in ancient history.

The log was used to inform the captain's superiors of what was happening on a mission and to record historical facts for future generations.

In the 22nd century, the day, month, and year were used to record dates in logs. The captain's log was known in this period as the captain's starlog. (, et al.) By the 23rd century, stardates were used.

Benjamin Sisko recorded his first captain's log on stardate 48960.9. 

Notable logs

 * USS Constellation
 * Deep Space 9
 * USS Defiant (NX-74205)
 * Delta Flyer
 * Enterprise (NX-01) (variably referred to as a log and a starlog)
 * USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)
 * USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A)
 * USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)
 * USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E)
 * USS Excelsior (NCC-2000)
 * USS Lantree
 * USS Stargazer
 * USS Voyager

Background
"Captain's log," spoken by William Shatner, were the first two words viewers heard on the first Star Trek broadcast,, on September 8, 1966.

Obviously, the "real" purpose of the log is to inform the audience about key plot points; it should be noted that in some of the first episodes of the original series, Kirk's log sometimes broke the fourth wall and described information that neither he nor the crew could be aware of. For example, in, Kirk describes "... but unknown to us...". There clearly wasn't time to make some other log entries; for instance, in, Kirk appears to have made a log entry about a his crew's skulduggery against the episode's villain while he, Kirk, is sitting next to that same villain.

Presumably, these log entries were created after the events had transpired, when the captain had time to update his log, and it was either Starfleet procedure or just Kirk's personal habit to record such logs in the present tense.