OMG, they had a form for it....

 I was reading Race Against Time... on working on the wreck of HMS Erebus, and was puzzled by the recovered note pictured  because it's clearly printed, with hand-written additions. And a ship lost in 1847 isn't going to have the ability to print stuff.

Then I realized, it's a standard Admiralty form for use by ships that are shipwrecked/otherwise unable to return to base. *boggle*