A museum boat can carry several dates: construction, a notable voyage, restoration and acquisition. Copying just the largest year may leave your notes describing the wrong event.
Attach each year to a verb
Write “built,” “sailed,” “restored” or “entered the collection” beside the relevant date. If the label supplies only an approximate period, preserve that qualification. A display about a reconstruction may refer both to a historical design and to a much newer physical object.
Separate the exhibit from its interpretation
Photograph or transcribe the label’s title and institution as well as a detail that caught your attention, where photography is permitted. Note the date of your visit. Exhibition wording can change, while the memory of a striking hull shape may remain vivid long after the exact explanation fades.
Back at home, turn the entry into two sentences: what object you saw, and what the label said about it. If you add a later source, identify it separately. This small distinction lets a sailing journal include maritime history without accidentally presenting every display statement as something you personally verified.