The first mate was found to be drunk one day and that day it happened to be the captain’s turn to write in the ship' s log so he wrote: The first mate was drunk today.

一天大副喝酒喝得大醉，这天正好轮到船长记航行日志。他写道:大副今天喝醉了。

He begged and pleaded to the captain to remove that entry but the captain argued that once an entry was made in the company’s Log it couldn’t be deleted. 'The first mate decided¹ to get even. The next time when it was the first mate's turn to write in the log, he wrote: The captain was sober today.

大副苦苦哀求船长不要把这个写进去，但是船长说一旦写进了航海日记就不能删去了。大副因此决定要对船长进行报复。当轮到大副记航海日志的时候，他写道:船长今天是清醒的。