Avoiding Transcription Errors
Avoiding Transcription Errors
Editorial history
Created 25/05/14, by CSG
Purpose
This Avoiding Transcription Errors page is being developed by Colin Greenstreet for use as a training tool during the MarineLives Summer Programme 2014
Contents
Suggested links
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Words
A
accompts or accounts
- "accompts" is the most common variant
Acts and proceedings of this said Court
- frequently mistranscribed as "Acte" not "Acts"
aforesaid or aforesayd
- probably 60% of the time "aforesayd"
- where there is the abbreviation "aforesd" on a page, look for an example of the expanded version on the same page and use that to expand the contracted "aforesd" to that version
- almost never "aforesayde"
allegation NOT allogation
- expansion of "allon"
alias
- EXAMPLE: "the ketch the Coronation alias the ffortune
allsoe or allso or also
- usually written as "allsoe"
amendment
- Often wrongly transcribed as "mend"
- To amend a ship is to have a ship repaired
- EXAMPLE: "to repayre and amend her"
answere or answer
- take care as to whether there is an "e" at the end or not
- 60% of the time there is an "e" (answere)
apparell
- MEANING: ship's sails
appurtenances
- many transcribers struggle with this one
arlate
- MEANING: something referred to in an allegation
B
Barbadoes or Barbados
- you will see both variants
bayles
beare sayle
- MEANING: to carry sail
beare up
- USAGE: a ship was requested to beare up, that is to slow down to avoid a collison or someother event
beleeveth or beleiveth
- you will see both versions
boatswaine or boatswayne
- you will see both versions
C
captaine
- almost always with an "e" (captaine)
caske or casks
- a very common mistranscription is to write "caske" rather than the plural "casks"
certaine or certayne or certain
- usually with an "e" at the end
charterpartie or charterparty
- you will see both varians, and also examples of the word being written as two parts "charter partie" and "charter party"
Cilley or Scilley
- MEANING: What we now call the Scilly islands
- Transcribe with a "C" of "S" according to what you see
colour
- EXAMPLE: to colour a bill of lading
- meaning: to pretend the bill of lading is from one country, when it is from another
companie or companye
- splits 50/50
- EXAMPLE: "one of the said shipps Companie"
comprise or comprize
- you will see both variants
conceyveth or conceiveth
- you will see both versions
confesse
- MEANING: to admit to something
contest
- MEANING: the deponent who will depose after the current deponent; as opposed to the deponent's "precontest" who deposed prior to the current deponent
conveigh
convert; converted
- MEANING: legal terminology: to seize and item and to turn it to ones own use rather than the original owner's
course
- USAGE: in the ship's course for Scarborough
currans or currants?
- usually "currans", but occasionally "currants"
- currants were imported from Zant and the Morea
cutcheneale
D
dammage
- almost always with a double "mm"
damnified
- MEANING: to have loss to a given value, e,g, "to be damnified to the summe of three hundred pounds sterling"
deponent or deponents
- look at the grammatical structure and check whether it is singular or plural
- MEANING: a witness in the English Admiralty Court who is being "deposed" by a proctor, that is they are giving evidence in response to the articles of a "Libell" or an "Allegation"; a witness who is responding to questions in "Interrogatories" is called a rendent; within one witness statement the witness can go from being described as a "deponent" to being a "rendent", when the proctor moves from addressing the articles of the allegation to addressing the questions of a set of Interrogatories
deteyned
dischardge or discharge
- usually has the extra "d"
- EXAMPLE: "dischardge goods at the Port of London"
dispoiled or dispoyled
- you will see both variants
- MEANING: to cause damage to, to spoil a ship and goods during seizure
divers NOT diverse
dollers or dollars
- often with an "e" ("dollers")
dunkerkers alt. dunkirkers
- MEANING: Dunkirk men of war
- Transcribe what you see, but "e" and "i" is very easily mistaken
E
elephants teeth
endammaged
- MEANING: to receive financial damage
eye and ear witnesse
F
ff
- we are NOT transcribing the double "ff" as "F"
- so "ffebruary" and NOT "February" (unless of course it is written "February"); "ffrancis" not "Francis"
farr
- always with a double "rr"
foregoeing
- usually spelled with an "e", so "goeing" not "going"
fowerth or fourth
- splits 50/50
ffrigat or ffrigot or frigat or frigot or ffrigatt or ffrigott etc
- you will see all variants
furniture
- MEANING: XXX
further or farther
- it is usually "further" and often mistranscribed as "farther"
- the "u" can often be quite closed up at top, causing it to be mistaken for an "a"
G
goe NOT goo
- goo is what babies like
gott
Guinney or Guinny or Ginny
- you will see all three variants
H
hee or he
- 60% of the time it is "hee"
hereafter
his or this
- read the letters carefully and think about the context, e.g. "his goods", not the improbable and grammatically incorrect "this goods"
- transcribers often mix these two words up
hither
- come hither, go thither
howbeit
- no longer common usage today, but you will see it in the Admiralty Court records
hyred
I
imbezell
imbezealled or imbezelled
- two variants exist
Interrogatorie or Interrogatory
- you will see both variants
iojntly
- MEANING: "jointly"
J
judgement or judgment
- you will see both variants
K
knew or know
- LOOK VERY CAREFULLY
L
ladeing or lading
- the variants are distributed roughly 50/50, so be careful
lemmon or lemon
- usually with a double "mm"
- I have seen an awful lot of "lemmons" which are in fact "linnens": quite a difference!
- If the goods come from Genoa, Saint Remo, or Spain and the word looks like "lemmons" then you are probably right
lett
- MEANING: to let out a ship
linnen or linen
- usually with a double "nn"
- THINK before you transcribe: if the phrase refers to a fraile or box of "XXX" rather than bayles of "XXXX" they are "lemmons" not "linnens". Believe I have seen this mistranscription many times!
lost or left
- it is a common mistake to mistranscribe these words, chosing the wrong option
- THINK about the meaning in context and you will chose the right option
M
Master or master
- Master is often (but not always) capitalised; if so prlease reproduce the capitalisation
May or March
- surprisingly transcribers sometimes confuse the two months
merchandise or merchandize
- you will see both variants, but "merchandize" is more common
merchants or marchants
- you will see both variants
mett or met
- almost always with a double "t"
- EXAMPLE: "the ship was mett with a seized by a Brest man of warr"
ministred not ministered
- MEANING: to minister an oath
moneths, monethes, or months
- usually the first of the three variants
was a twelve moneths
- MEANING: twelve months ago
N
neere NOT neare
noate
noe
- "no" is rarely written without an "e"
not withstanding
- usually written as two words, rather than one
0
oportunity or opportunity
- you will see both variants
Ostenders
- MEANING: Ostend men of war
P
particulerly
peeces; pieces
- most common is "peeces"
perceaving
performance
- USAGE: performance of a voyage
periurie or perjury
- you will see both variants
persuite
- an "e" is often used where we would now use a "u"
- MANING : pursuit
Port of London
- the "p" in the phrase "Port of London" is often written in the Court manuscripts as a captial "P". Please transcribe as "Port of London"
premisses
- yes, it says "premisses"!
- MEANING: the facts as stated
- as in "the premisses he knoweth because"
precontest
- MEANING: the deponent who proceeded the current deponent; in contrast to the deponent's "contest" who will depose after the current deponent
prejudice or preiudice
- you will see these 50/50
EXAMPLE: "hee cometh to bee a wittnes in this cause at the request of the producent and saith hee expecteth not nor shall receive neither benefit nor prejudice whichsoever of the parties litigant prevaile in this cause"
proceeds or proceed NOT proceede
- usually "proceeds"
- EXAMPLE: the "proceeds of certaine goods"
procure
- everyone gets this one wrong, since they are not expecting it!
producents
- the individuals who have made the allegation and who have had the witnesses "produced" in Court (as opposed to the "deponents" who are the witnesses themselves being deposed in Court)
prosecute
- EXAMPLE: to prosecute a voyage
prosecution
- EXAMPLE: prosecution of a voyage
putt not put
- usually you will see this with a double "tt"
Q
quiett and peaceable possession
- stock phrase
R
receaved or received
- you will see both versions
rendent
- used when referring to a witnesses response to interrogatories (as opposed to "deponent" when responding to athe articles of an allegation or a libell)
repayres
risque or riske
- you will see both versions
roape
- much more common than "rope"
romageing
- EXAMPLE: "romeaging among the goods on board found then that some a sugar casks on board was halfe empty of sugar"
- I love this word every time I see it!
running fowle
S
said or sayd
- probably 60% of the time "sayd"
- almost never "sayde"
- where there is the abbreviation "sd" on a page, look for an example of the expanded version on the same page and use that to exapand the contracted "sd" to that version
sancke vs. suncke
- look very carefully at the vowel after the "s"
sayed
- I have NEVER seen this actually written by the scribe, but it is an occasional mistranscription for "sayd"
sawe or saw
- almost always with an "e"
schedulate; schedulat
- very occasionally written without the "e"
- MEANING: stated in the accompanying schedule
she or shee
- the variants are distributed roughly 50/50, so be careful
- ships are referred to as "she/shee" and "her"
shewed or showed
- you will see both variants; with an "e" is more common
shewne or showne
- usually it is "shewne"
shipp or shipps
- look carefully to see if there is an "s" after the second "p"
- does the sense of the phrase suggest this is a plural?
- EXAMPLE: "one of the shipps company"
smale; smaler; or smalle
- MEANING: "small"; "smaller"
- I have seen one instance of "smalle"
soe or soo and very occasionally so
- it is NEVER "soo"
- This is a very common trancription error
sopra cargo or supra cargo; also sopra-cargo and supra-cargo
- you will see both variants
- MEANING: a merchant travelling on a ship specifically and contractually employed to look after buying and selling goods
sould or sold
- you will see both variants
souldiers not soldiers
stockings or stockins
- the first variant is more frequent
stuffs
- MEANING: materials, textiles, as in "East India stuffs"
subiects or subjects
- you will see both variants; transcribe it as you see it
the Straights or the Streights
- you will see both versions
- MEANING: refers to the straits of Gibraltar, hence "within the Straights" and "without the Straights"
suddainly
suite; suit
- MEANING: a law suit
surprized
- EXAMPLE: The ship was met with, surprized and seized"
- Usually with a "z"
T
tackle
- MEANING: ship's equipment
tenor
-EXAMPLE: "three bills of one tenor" (i.e. bills of lading all saying the same)
than or then
- Look very carefully: it is often "then"
thence NOT there
- frequently confused by transcribers with "there"
- NOTE: thence implies movement, as does "hence"
this or his
- read the letters carefully and think about the context
these or those
- You need to read the text VERY carefully, since "e" and "o" can look extraordinarily similar
thither
- not to be confused with "hither"
thitherwards
thredd
- almost never "thread"
three NOT there
- you would be surprised how many transcribers switch off their brains and write "there" when the sense is clearly a number as in "three bayles", or "three caskes of sugar"
tobacco or tobaccoe; tobaccos or tobaccoes
- both variants seen in singular, though with "e" at end more common
- pluarl almost always has "es" at end
togeather or together
- usually it is "togeather"
traffique
- MEANING: to engage in commerce, to transact
trecherous
twentith or twentieth
- don't correct "twentith" by adding an "e" if it is written without one
- it is esy to SEE letters which are not there
U
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V
valew
- yes, that's with a "w"
- "value" is almost never used
voyage or voiage
- you will see both variants
W
weight or waight
- don't be surprised if it is "waight", as in "one hundred waight"
who, when, where
- Look at the sense of the phrase
- what makes grammatical sense?
Wittnes or Wittnesse or very occasionally witnesse
- You will find the variants "wittnes" and "wittnesse"
- You will never find "wittness" with two "s" but without an "e"
wreckt
X
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Y
yeilded or yeelded NOT yielded
Z
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Capitalisation
C or G
- Captal "C's" and capital "G's" are easily confused
d or D
- only capitalise IF it is a clear "D", even if it is the first letter of a person's name
- EXAMPLE: "david" not "David", UNLESS a clear "D"
- EXAMPLE: "december", UNLESS a clear "D"
- EXAMPLE: "doctor of Lawes"; "doctor Godolphin"
h or H
- only capitalise IF it is a clear "H", even if it is the first letter of a person's name
- so "henry" not "Henry", UNLESS a clear "H"
i or I
- "Interrogatories" is usually written with a capial "I"
j or J
- Capital "J's" are used more often than we would use them
- EXAMPLE: "Judgment"
m or M
- pay attention to the capitalisation of "m/N", especially in "master" or "Master"
- transcribe what you see
V
- recognising a capital "V" is tricky. Good luck
Grammar
- Grammar is pretty close to modern grammar, and is rigorously adhered to (as opposed to orthography, which is very variable)
- Plurals: read your work for its meaning. Have you missed the plural? Have you incorrectly transcribed in the plural, when the sense is of the singular?
- Some oddities you may come across:
was instead of were
- EXAMPLE: "there was Currans and wine and oyle to about the quantitie of sixty tonnes put aboard"
and further cannot depose
- missing out the "hee" or "he"
Punctuation
- hee saith, That
- note the comma between "saith" and "That"
Common Sense
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