Nautical Research Journal

This search engine allows you to find index entries containing the words or portions of words you wish to match. The search engine is based on the comprehensive Nautical Research Journal Index of Volumes 1 - 40 compiled by John M. Barry.

About this Index

The Nautical Research Journal Index of Volumes 1-40 is the first scan in twenty-five years of the entire run of the Nautical Research Journal and its antecedent Secretary's Monthly Letter. Our thorough and fresh sixty-thousand-entry Index, complete through December 1995, is far more diverse and cross-referenced than annual Journal volume indices or the Cumulative Index of Volumes 1-16.

In February 1948, the newly established Nautical Research Guild made its publishing debut with Volume I number 1 of The Secretary's Monthly Letter, a six-page, hand-typed, mimeographed, and side-stapled affair. In four of the twelve 1949 issues, the Monthly Letter included a separately paginated feature called the Nautical Research Journal. During 1950, the four Nautical Research Journals were integrally paginated with the Monthly Letters in which they appeared and this practice continued through January 1951. In February, the reversal was completed when the young Guild recognized its principal publication as the Nautical Research Journal and reduced The Secretary's Monthly Letter to departmental status. The Journal remained a monthly for about three years until mid-1954, when it became bi-monthly. After another three years, at the end of 1957, quarterly publication was initiated and has continued to the present.

Inclusion of a column written by the Nautical Research Guild's secretary has remained a Journal staple and has appeared in nearly every issue. Even after absorption by the Journal, the original Secretary's Monthly Letter maintained independent volume and issue numbers into 1954 when the column was renamed the Secretary's Report to Members. The name changed to the Secretary's Bi-Monthly Report to Members during 1956, to the Report of the Secretary in 1957, and finally to the Secretary's Newsletter, which has stuck for nearly thirty years since 1968.

Journal publication was not always smooth. This explains why only forty volumes were published during the forty-seven years between January 1949 and December 1995. The first lapse occurred when only two volumes were issued during the four years from 1958 to 1961. Nothing was produced in 1963, 1964, or 1966. A single, combined volume was released for 1973 and 1974 and another spanned 1986 and 1987. The regrettable consequence of these and other irregularities is the inconsistent relationship between volume numbers and calendar years.

In May 1971, the Guild published a twelve-page cumulative index of the Secretary's Monthly Letter and the Nautical Research Journal through Volume 16. Additionally, there have been many individual annual indices. Currently, the policy is to have a bi-annual release of two annual indices alternate with a bi-annual membership roster. Although the annual volume indices, which are actually expanded tables of contents, have shared similar formatting over time, they were compiled by many people who applied variable inclusion criteria. This rendered impractical the amalgamation of the annual indices and the earlier cumulative index for our all-new Index.

Number-conscious users may enjoy knowing that, in all, the Index records material in thirty-six Secretary's Monthly Letters and one hundred ninety-two Nautical Research Journals. Because of differing pagination practices and overlaps during concurrent issuance of the two publications, it's hard to make an accurate page count. Nonetheless, something over eighty-five hundred pages of text have been read and analyzed to compile this Index!

This is an entirely voluntary effort and no one involved in it had ever done any indexing of this magnitude. In a work of the Index's length and complexity, there are likely to be flaws - typographical errors, factual mistakes, omissions, and so forth. Users are urged to report any of these to the Guild so corrections can be filed and entered for future editions.

Rob Napier and John M. Barry

Using the Index

References are to page numbers within volumes, not within individual issues. Thus, "34:12, 187" indicates a subject will be found on pages 12 and 187 of Volume 34. Although the first six volumes of the Nautical Research Journal received roman numerals, they have been converted to arabic for consistency. References to the three volumes of The Secretary's Monthly Letter, when it was a separate publication from 1948 through 1950, are made with volume designators L1, L2, and L3.

Main headings are set in bold type, vessel names are in UPPERCASE.

In planning, we decided to record every appearance of a vessel's name in the two publications. This poses no problem when a vessel is the subject of major commentary. However, when a vessel is linked in a minor way to an event or date, the term "historical reference" is used; when a vessel is named only incidentally, the word "mentioned" is entered.

Where a vessel's name was spelled in more than one way, or incorrectly, or where references could not be positively combined for a single vessel, each spelling or reference has been preserved and given a separate main heading. We strongly advise users to track all likely headings for vessel names or other topics.

Vessel records may indicate inclusion in the Nautical Research Guild Ship Plans Registry which was designed to provide locations of all sorts of ship plans. The service began in the early 1950s and continued into 1990. At various times, the Guild also maintained a more casual ship model register, an index of books, and a nautical dictionary. None of these databases exists today and queries regarding them will not be fruitful.

Search Instructions

The search engine contains a listing of the main headings from the printed version of the Nautical Research Journal Index of Volumes 1 - 40. The search engine allows you to find entries containing the words or portions of words you wish to match.

To search, enter your search text in the field above. The search text can contain one or more words or parts of words, separated by spaces. Select either the "Match Any Term" or "Match All Terms" radio button and then either click the Search pushbutton. (NOTE: pressing the ENTER key may not work properly in some browsers). You will be presented with an alphabetical listing of all index main headings matching your search criteria. Clicking on a highlighted heading will open its associated detailed listing in a separate tab or window (depending on browser) -- you may also scroll up or down through the detail listing.

For example, let's say you're interested in privateer schooners.

Enter the text PRIVATEER SCHOONER in the text field, select the "Match Any Terms" radio button, then click the "Search" pushbutton. The search engine returns 1,365 entries containing either or both PRIVATEER or SCHOONER.

If you want to see only articles containing both PRIVATEER and SCHOONER, select the "Match All Terms" radio button, then click the "Search" pushbutton. The search engine returns a total of 12 entries containing both the words PRIVATEER and SCHOONER.

Search Hints

Although upper case letters have been used in the preceeding example, the search engine is not case sensitive. That is, PRIVATEER returns the same results as privateer or priVAteer or PrivaTeeR, etc.

Remember, as far as the computer is concerned, the text you enter in the "Search For:" box are considered text strings, not words. If you enter "boat" the search engine will find all articles containing the character string b, o, a and t in that order. This will include hits for boat, steamboat, workboat, catboat, etc.

Each search string must be at least three characters long.

Be aware that nomenclature can be inconsistent. For instance, if you are searching for articles about whaleboats or steamships you may want to do a "match all terms" search for whale boat or steam ship rather than whaleboat or steamship.

In general, your search result will return more results if you use singular rather than plural nouns in your search string -- schooner rather than schooners. However, if you are intrested in entries for specific ship types, it will be better to use the plural form: battleships, schooners or cutters.

Using the Index

References are to page numbers within volumes, not within individual issues. Thus, "34:12, 187" indicates a subject will be found on pages 12 and 187 of Volume 34. Although the first six volumes of the Nautical Research Journal received roman numerals, they have been converted to arabic for consistency. References to the three volumes of The Secretary's Monthly Letter, when it was a separate publication from 1948 through 1950, are made with volume designators L1, L2, and L3.

Main headings are set in bold type, vessel names are in UPPERCASE.

In planning, we decided to record every appearance of a vessel's name in the two publications. This poses no problem when a vessel is the subject of major commentary. However, when a vessel is linked in a minor way to an event or date, the term "historical reference" is used; when a vessel is named only incidentally, the word "mentioned" is entered.

Where a vessel's name was spelled in more than one way, or incorrectly, or where references could not be positively combined for a single vessel, each spelling or reference has been preserved and given a separate main heading. We strongly advise users to track all likely headings for vessel names or other topics.

Vessel records may indicate inclusion in the Nautical Research Guild Ship Plans Registry which was designed to provide locations of all sorts of ship plans. The service began in the early 1950s and continued into 1990. At various times, the Guild also maintained a more casual ship model register, an index of books, and a nautical dictionary. None of these databases exists today and queries regarding them will not be fruitful.

Search Instructions

The search engine contains a listing of the main headings from the printed version of the Nautical Research Journal Index of Volumes 1 - 40. The search engine allows you to find entries containing the words or portions of words you wish to match.

To search, enter your search text in the field above. The search text can contain one or more words or parts of words, separated by spaces. Select either the "Match Any Term" or "Match All Terms" radio button and then either click the Search pushbutton. (NOTE: pressing the ENTER key may not work properly in some browsers). You will be presented with an alphabetical listing of all index main headings matching your search criteria. Clicking on a highlighted heading will open its associated detailed listing in a separate tab or window (depending on browser) -- you may also scroll up or down through the detail listing.

For example, let's say you're interested in privateer schooners.

Enter the text PRIVATEER SCHOONER in the text field, select the "Match Any Terms" radio button, then click the "Search" pushbutton. The search engine returns 1,365 entries containing either or both PRIVATEER or SCHOONER.

If you want to see only articles containing both PRIVATEER and SCHOONER, select the "Match All Terms" radio button, then click the "Search" pushbutton. The search engine returns a total of 12 entries containing both the words PRIVATEER and SCHOONER.

Search Hints

Although upper case letters have been used in the preceeding example, the search engine is not case sensitive. That is, PRIVATEER returns the same results as privateer or priVAteer or PrivaTeeR, etc.

Remember, as far as the computer is concerned, the text you enter in the "Search For:" box are considered text strings, not words. If you enter "boat" the search engine will find all articles containing the character string b, o, a and t in that order. This will include hits for boat, steamboat, workboat, catboat, etc.

Each search string must be at least three characters long.

Be aware that nomenclature can be inconsistent. For instance, if you are searching for articles about whaleboats or steamships you may want to do a "match all terms" search for whale boat or steam ship rather than whaleboat or steamship.

In general, your search result will return more results if you use singular rather than plural nouns in your search string -- schooner rather than schooners. However, if you are intrested in entries for specific ship types, it will be better to use the plural form: battleships, schooners or cutters.