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Destiny 2 Captain's Logs explained: How to find smuggling compartments and cryptic notes for the Graven Scrawl challenge

A list of smuggling compartment locations from finding the Presage lore explained.

How to unlock the Presage collectables and open Smuggling Compartments throughout the ship.

Destiny 2's Captain's Logs are lore collectables you can find by completing the Presage mission.

Also described as cryptic notes, there's a new Captain's Log available each week, helping you complete several objectives - including Bound in Memory and Graven Scrawl.

They also open the way to smuggling compartments, which are hidden areas dotted throughout the ship, which are also time gated for each week. And no - the Captain's Logs are unfortunately not at all related to Star Trek.

On this page:

A complete playthrough (with no audio) of the latest Exotic Mission in Destiny 2, Presage - a quest which sees players explore an abandoned ship.Watch on YouTube

How to unlock Captain's Logs for the Bound in Memory and Graven Scrawl objectives in Destiny 2

Collecting Captain's Logs within Presage helps complete two objectives - the Gravel Scrawl weekly challenge, which has you find three 'cryptic notes', and Bound in Memory, a Triumph with 12 steps in total.

Captain's Logs are dropped automatically on each completion of Presage once you have completed it the first time. In other words, once you have finished Presage a second time, giving you your first random roll Dead Man's Tale drop, you'll get your first Captain's Log.

New Captain's Logs were introduced into the game on a weekly basis (following each Tuesday reset). This meant you were encouraged to replay Presage weekly, earning you another chapter in the Captain's Log in the progress.

Captain's Logs also unlock smuggling compartments on the Presage for future playthroughs. These are doors which are previously locked, and can be opened by finding tablets dotted throughout the ship. Each Captain's Log links to a specific smuggling compartment, unlocked in sequence, which is available to access on your next playthrough.

Up until January 2022, this was time gated - meaning you had to wait until next reset for the following compartment to open. However, at the tail end of the Year, this no longer applies - meaning you can run it multiple times in a week and find a new Captain's Log each time.

In summary, Captain's Logs and smuggling compartments work like so:

  • On your second Presage completion, your first Captain's Log will unlock
  • A new Captain's Log will be made available - so to get all Captain's Logs, complete Presage 12 times
  • Each Captain's Log you collect will allow you to open a new smuggling compartment somewhere on the Presage on a future playthrough

Though Captain's Logs are obtained automatically, you need to actively find each smuggling compartment they each unlock by locating a tablet and then opening the chest inside to tick it off the list.

Destiny 2 Smuggling Compartment Week 1 location

When you first enter the ship after the platforming section outside, you'll be in a duct.

After the second left turn is a vent you can shoot behind some fungus.

Inside here is a tablet on the ground, which you can scan. Once done, the door in this area will open, revealing a chest.

If the tablet does not want to be scanned, then make sure you have completed Presage twice before this - granting you the first Captain's Log which allows you to do so.

Destiny 2 Smuggling Compartment Week 2 location

Staying in the first set of vents after you enter the ship, continue until the penultimate corner before you drop down to the hanger where you can open up the door that leads to where you first started the mission.

On this corner is a tablet. Scan it, and then turn around to see the door which has opened in the ground behind you.

Destiny 2 Smuggling Compartment Week 3 location

Following the vents at the start of the mission, you must gain a buff to pass through the first burning wall.

In this room, take the path along the right side, to find the tablet on the ground.

Scanning this opens the door to the right, where you can find the chest.

Destiny 2 Smuggling Compartment Week 4 location

Play until you reach the area before the trash compactor section - where you must throw three switches to work your way around the electrified walls in the middle of a hangar.

After throwing the first switch, and using the buff to get past the burning wall, you drop down before jumping up again.

In this area before you jump up and continue, there is a tablet on the ground next to a door in the far corner.

Scan this, and the door will be open to you. You'll then need another buff - found on the ledge above and behind of where you dropped down - to access the chest inside.


The Season of the Deep is here alongside the Into the Depths quest. You can know go fishing too! Don't forget to keep an eye on the Lost Sector and King's Fall challenge rotation schedule!


Destiny 2 Smuggling Compartment Week 5 location

Go to the location of the previous Smuggling Compartment. From here, you must leap up out of this area, and go onwards to the next open part of the hanger with the electrified wall to the sides of you.

After you jump out and before you go out ahead, there is a door on your left.

In this room, take the left side, and find the tablet you can scan on the ground. The door it opens is to the left, where you can find the chest.

Destiny 2 Smuggling Compartment Week 6 location

This tablet is found as soon as you drop into the vent after the trash compactor section.

To find the chest, jump back up into the trash compactor, and locate another floor panel which has opened with the location.

Destiny 2 Smuggling Compartment Week 7 location

Shortly after the trash compactor is a combat section. This fight takes place across two areas - the initial room, then the hangar. Between these two locations is a corridor.

After you pass the red-tinted corridor is a dark section, and that's where you'll find the tablet, on the ground next to a door on the left, which will open after you interact with it.

Destiny 2 Smuggling Compartment Week 8 location

In the second part of the combat section - in the hangar exposed to space - there is a door at the very far end.

Head here and interact with the tablet on the ground to open the door and grab the chest.

Destiny 2 Smuggling Compartment Week 9 location

After the second part of the combat section, you have to leap out into space between two hangars.

In the latter hangar, where there's a ship suspended you can use to climb up to the vents above, is a door at the far end. Next to it is a tablet on the ground here you can interact with, opening the door, leading the way to the chest.

Destiny 2 Smuggling Compartment Week 10 location

Once you have completed the combat section, head through the vent and drop down into the next area - which involves a series of puzzles with buffs and switches.

As soon as you enter the initial room, turn right to find a door in the corner with the tablet on the floor. Interact with this to open the door and get the chest.

When you reach here, turn right and hug the wall until the door.

Destiny 2 Smuggling Compartment Week 11 location

Halfway through the series of puzzles between the combat section and the final boss, you'll drop down into a series of vents lit by red lighting. Within these you'll find the tablet and the door it'll open.

Destiny 2 Smuggling Compartment Week 12 location

Play through to the very end of Presage. Before you 'steal' the weapon and complete the mission, interact with the tablet near the computer consoles behind it. This will open a door elsewhere in the room (see it circled below) where you will find the final chest and a cutscene.

With that done, the Tucked Away Triumph is complete! Note if you didn't achieve it during the debut season, don't fret - it will be around for the rest of Year 4 for you to earn.