Tom Compton’s notebook — purchased for one florin eighty from Fowler’s Books three weeks ago — now contains thirty entries. Each one records the name of a vessel, the name of its captain, the captain’s preferred tea, and one additional detail that Compton, at twenty-three, considers worth remembering.

Entry twenty-three: Ashwater Dawn, Captain Phyllis Ormond. Earl Grey, no sugar. “Hull has a dent on the port bow from the great gale of 2019. She calls it a badge of honour.”

Entry twenty-six: Harbour Bell, Captain Walter Inch. Strong black, milk on the side. “Named after his grandmother, who rang the harbour bell every evening for forty-one years.”

Entry thirty: Resolute, Captain Anders Grip. Does not drink tea. “Coffee only. First captain I have met in the fleet who refuses tea. He says it is a principled stand but will not explain the principle.”

Thirty of ninety vessels in Bobington’s fishing fleet have now been fitted with the Ashwater Signal Works position-reporting beacons, funded by the Maritime Safety Reserve at a cost of 19,800 florins. Walter Compton — Tom’s uncle and the programme’s lead engineer — is averaging three installations per day, a pace that puts completion on track for late April.

“The work is repetitive,” the elder Compton said on Thursday, emerging from the engine compartment of the Morning Star with grease on his forearms and a satisfied expression. “Mount the housing, run the wiring to the battery, calibrate the signal, test the range. Two hours if the electrics are sound. Three if they are not.”

The Morning Star — entry thirty-one, Captain Harlan Poole, chairman of the Fishermen’s Benevolent Association — will be fitted on Friday. Poole, who proposed the beacon programme after the Lady Maren incident, has asked whether Tom’s notebook might be reproduced in the Association’s annual report.

“I told him it is just notes,” Tom said. “He said that is precisely the point.”

Harbour Master Cornelius Ashby confirmed that the first thirty beacons are transmitting reliably, with position updates received at the Port Authority every four minutes. Range tests during the Northern Light’s last voyage showed consistent signal at twenty-two nautical miles — well beyond the outer fishing grounds.

Sixty vessels remain. The notebook has room.