Research Desk
Maritime Archives Online
How to distinguish a searchable catalogue from a digitised record, and both from an onsite collection.
At a glance
This is a source-led reading note. It draws its route from The National Archives, Royal Museums Greenwich and WorldCat and keeps the limits of each source visible.
Online maritime research often starts with a catalogue, not a scan. A good research note records what is searchable, what can be requested, what requires a visit and which terms to try next. This prevents a quiet but common error: treating a search result as if it contained the full record.
Three soundings before you begin
- Read access notes before assuming a record can be viewed online.
- Save stable catalogue references with your search terms and date.
- Use institutional guides to move between ship, officer and collection searches.
Make the next step small
Write down the precise question you want a book or record to answer. Then choose one catalogue or guide, capture its stable reference, and return to the page with the evidence in view. That sequence is slower than a quick list, but it leaves a reader with a useful trail.
Source-aware practice
A published book, a library catalogue and an archive guide belong on the same shelf only after their purposes are named. The Quarterdeck Index labels those differences so that a reader can move between them without confusing recommendation, record and primary evidence.
Browse the Quarterdeck Index