The Society for Nautical Research

Style Guide (print-friendly version)

The Mariner’s Mirror style guide and bibliographical conventions

General

1. As a general rule, articles should not exceed 6,000 words.
2. Authors are requested to submit articles which contain some evidence of primary research based on original sources, e.g. Government records such as Ministry of Transport, Admiralty, original letters and manuscripts held in collections or repositories etc.
3. Authors should provide a brief account (less than 50 words) of their current post, recent publications and research interests for inclusion in a list of contributors to each edition.
4. Authors may submit articles in the style of the journal in electronic format, either on disk or by email. Microsoft Word (version 6 and onwards) is the preferred format for text, PDF for examples of photographs, maps etc. is acceptable. For final graphics (as opposed to submissions for consideration) tiff, jpg and pdf files are acceptable providing they have a reasonable resolution for printing, that is 300 dps or above. Our typesetter is happy to receive any queries relating to acceptable formats, as lesser formats can sometimes be accommodated if that is all the author can provide. Mac graphics however are difficult to convert successfully and thus are best avoided. Alternatively, potential authors may post two hard copies – double-spaced and endnoted; and a disk, not a CD Rom, to the Editor.
5. It is the sole responsibility of authors to gain necessary permissions for items in copyright such as photographs, maps etc. and to satisfy the Editor that these permissions have been granted from copyright holders.
6. Authors are requested to inform the Editor if they have submitted the article to other journals for publication.
7. If articles are to be amended in line with referees’ comments, then authors must acknowledge this accordingly with the phrase, ‘I am (we are) grateful for the comments of anonymous referees’.
8. Authors are requested to provide an abstract of approximately 200 words which may be used to publicize the piece on the SNR website.
9. All author's of Articles or Notes are requested to print off, sign and post to the Editor the Licence to publish only after notification-either by post or by e-mail-of acceptance of said article or Note by the Editor has been given.

Presentation

1. Paper and typing: Contributions should be typed, in double spacing, on international A4 size or US Letter size paper with a 1.5 inch margin on the left-hand side and ample space top and bottom. Pages should be numbered in pencil at the top right-hand corner, with the title and the author’s name and full postal and email address typed on a separate sheet. Proofs are normally sent out by post but pdf email attachments are sent if speed is important, especially for overseas authors.
2. Endnotes: The style of journal articles in The Mariner’s Mirror is that endnotes should be typed separately from the text, double-spaced and numbered consecutively both in the text (at the end of a sentence or paragraph – not in mid-sentence) and in the endnotes in Arabic numerals.
3. Tables: Check tables carefully both for their contents and final form. Authors should double check that figures do add up to the totals given. In the case of tables that occupy less than a whole page, the position which they are to occupy in the text should be indicated. Avoid ambiguities through mis-spacing. Sources for tables should be given in full detail, as a caption, even if elsewhere referred to in the endnotes to the text of the article.
4. Sub-sections and headings: sub-sections are recommended. Main headings (in upper case) should be centred and subsidiary headings (in lower case) ranged left. Do not underline. No full stop after headings.
5. Graphs and maps should be professionally drawn if possible.
6. Photographs should be half-plate size (4.75 x 6.5 in) and printed on glossy paper. Please type captions on a separate sheet and not on the reverse of the photograph.
7. Cross-referencing: For all illustrations (and tables) a highlighted cross-reference in the text is required (e.g. ‘see figure 2’) so that illustrations are appropriately placed. If an author would like certain illustrations grouped together for comparison, this can be indicated in a separate note.
8. Contact: Authors are requested to inform the Editor of any change in postal or email address.

References

Consistency is most important in references to books, articles and manuscript sources. Note that initial capitals are used for all nouns and important adjectives in titles, that the word immediately following a colon in a title is capitalized, and that dates in titles of books and articles are preceded by a comma. References to volume numbers of books and journals are given in roman or Arabic as in the original source. Do not use p. or pp. for page references.

1. Books: Place of publication is to be given in all cases and, if known to be still in print, to include publisher, and titles to be italicised:
   • R. Harding, The Evolution of the Sailing Navy, 1509–1815 (London, 1995), 66.
   • W.A. Baker, A Maritime History of Bath, Maine and the Kennebec River Region (Bath, Maine, 1973), II, 251–3.
   • R.D. Merriman, ed., Queen Anne’s Navy (Navy Records Society, 1961), 35–8.
   
   Where there is a sub-title, it should be given an initial capital and be divided from the main title by a colon:
   • R. Hatton and J.S. Bromley, eds, William III and Louis XIV: Essays by and for Mark A. Thomson (Liverpool, 1968), 110–12.
   Where a volume is one of a series, or where a chapter from a collective work is cited, give the Editor(s) of the individual volume:
   • R.C. Jarvis, ‘Eighteenth-century London Shipping’, in W. Kellaway and A.E.J. Hollaender, eds, Studies in London History presented to Philip Edmund Jones (London, 1969), 401–25;
   • D. Landes, ‘Technological Change and Development in Western Europe, 1750–1914’, in H.J. Habbakkuk and M.M. Postan, eds, Cambridge Economic History of Europe, V1, pt 1, The Industrial Revolution and After (Cambridge, 1965), 382.
   
   Foreign titles follow the conventions of their own languages. Thus, Romance language titles capitalize only the first word and proper names:
   • J. Roncato, La guerre de course à Saint-Malo pendant la guerre de Louis XV (Paris, 1956).
   
   
2. Articles: Omit the definite article in journal titles, and use abbreviations where appropriate. Give the date of publication as year only, unless the series had no numbered volume. The sequence of volume number, year of publication, and page reference should be adopted. Give complete page references when an article is referred to as a whole. Use initial letter capitals for all nouns in article titles:
   • M. Woolf, ‘Eighteenth-century London Jewish Shipowners’, Transactions of the Jewish Historical Society of England, XXIV (1974), 198–204.
   • W. Ashworth, ‘Economic Aspects of Late Victorian Naval Administration’, Economic History Review, 2nd ser. XXII (1969), 503.
   • F.J. MacLynn, ‘Sea Power and the Jacobite Rising of 1745’, Mariner’s Mirror, 67 (1981), 163–72.
   
   
3. Newspapers: Omit the definite article in newspaper titles, with the traditional exception of The Times. Note the sequence of title of newspaper (italicized), and day, month (truncated) and year of publication. Page numbers are not necessary due to different daily editions of some newspapers:
   • ‘The Officious Official’, Morning Post, 15 Sept. 1921;
   • report in The Times, 30 Oct. 1918;
   • Economist, 11 Dec. 2004.
   
   
4. Manuscript references: Use the abbreviated form for record repositories where appropriate, for example:
   • British Library, BL, Add. MS 36, 042, fo. 2 (four-figure numerals without comma or space: 6042).
   Titles of other record repositories, and names of collections of papers, in full in first reference (including location where necessary):
   • National Archives of Scotland (hereafter NAS), Airlie Papers, GD16, Section 38/82, 5 April 1844.
   • Compton Papers, kept at the estate office of the Marquess of Northampton, Castle Ashby (hereafter CA). 1011. No. 29.
   • Northampton County Record Office (hereafter NRO), Brudenell, 27 June 1652.
   Note that manuscript is abbreviated MS, manuscripts MSS.
   
   
5. Official Papers: British Parliamentary Papers are always abbreviated as BPP. Give full title, year of publication, volume number, question number where applicable, or page numbers (from the continuous pagination). Thus:
   • Select Committee on Manufactures, Commerce and Shipping (BPP, 1833, VI) Q.456; and subsequent ref. as S.C. on Manufactures (1833) QQ. 457–8.
   • Accounts and Papers (BPP, 1890, XLV) 212, Dockyard Expense Accounts 1888–9; and subsequent ref. as: Accounts and Papers (1890) 213–4.
   • Hansard (Commons) 4th Ser. XXXVI, 22 Aug. 1895, cols 641–2.
   • Journals of the House of Commons, LXXX (1824), 110;
   • Journals of the House of Lords, LXX (1824), 18 June.
   
   
6. Theses: No italics for titles of unpublished theses:
   • C.J. French, ‘The Trade and Shipping of the Port of London, 1700–1766’ (unpublished PhD thesis, University of Exeter, 1980), 1–10.
   
   
7. Subsequent references should be given in abbreviated form by listing the author’s surname followed by a short title:
   • Harding, Sailing Navy, 35.
   • MacLynn, Sea Power, 165.
   • French, thesis, 10–19.
   
   ibid. is acceptable for consecutive references, but please do not use op cit or loc cit.
   
   
8. Internet Sources: Authors are requested to treat internet sources with heightened caution. Official government sites and those of government departments, national and local libraries and archives and museums pertaining to the historical record should be used judiciously. Personal sites such as, for example, Dr Joe Bloggs (doctorate purchased on the internet for $10) ‘Earth shattering re-appraisal of the sinking of the Bismarck’, or Dr Erewhon, ‘Alien invaders caused the sinking of the Titanic’ should be avoided. Wikipedia is not an acceptable source for Mariner's Mirror.
   
   Material referenced from the internet should be cited thus:
   • ‘Editorial abstracts of The Mariner’s Mirror, vol. 90, No. 4, Nov. 2005, accessed 22 Nov. 2005, www.snr.org. Register of Historical Facts, retrieved 5 Nov. 2004, www.maritimemuseum.org/resources33.pdf.

Literary Conventions

1. Figures: To be used in measurement as ‘6 inches’, ‘88 feet’, but time to be in words, as ‘six minutes’, ‘seven years’, ‘the eighteenth century’, ‘the thirties’; but use figures where the century is named – ‘the 1920s’. All other figures up to ten in words; (six canoes), and over ten in figures; (16 men on a dead man’s chest). Percentages to be given in figures and in full (‘25 per cent’, ‘per annum’) except in tables and in endnotes where ‘%’, and ‘p.a.’ are permissible. Avoid numbers of more than five figures in the text wherever possible; spell out round numbers up to ten, but ‘5.5 million’ rather than 5,500,000 or ‘five and a half million’. Fractions with hyphens: two-thirds.
2. Years: Use 1801–4 when from 1801 to 1804 is meant; use 1801/2 when a calendar year (or part thereof) over those two years is meant. Use 1852–72 not 1852–1872. In general when referring to numbers in sequence avoid unnecessary repetition, thus 20–6, 151–7; but 10–13, 101–07.
3. Time: Adhere to contemporary usage, for example 2.30 am; 6.20 pm; 23:50.
4. Dates: Wherever possible give dates in full, as 30 January 1938. In endnotes abbreviate the months as follows: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec.
5. Quotations: Within single quotation marks ‘…’.
   Quotations within quotation, within double quotation marks ‘… “…”…’.
   Punctuation within quotation marks should be as in the original quotation; thus the closing quotation mark should be placed before the following punctuation only if the quoted phrase is not a complete sentence.
   Quotations of two lines of type or more (more than 20 words) should be broken off from the text and set in single space:

   For maritime history it was both the best and worst of times; no one would have believed this to be the case a decade or more ago but ships had ceased to sail and the sea had been relegated to the footnotes of history.

   Single quotation marks are used for titles of articles and chapters.
   
   Spelling and punctuation in quoted matter should remain as in the original. If clarification is necessary this can be inserted by the author in square brackets.
6. Italics and Roman: Commonly used abbreviations should be roman type, thus et al, i.e., e.g. Foreign words and phrases should be in italics (eg. le Boudin), but not names of foreign services or organizations (eg. Kreigsmarine). Names of journals, newspapers and books should be in italics but not unpublished theses.
7. Punctuation: Avoid redundant punctuation if at all possible, in both text and endnotes. There should be minimum use of the dash (–) for punctuation purposes.
8. Alternatives: Where there is an alternative use ‘ize’ as in organize, not ‘ise’ as in organise; ‘exion’ as in connexion, not ‘ection’ as in connection. Use medieval, not mediaeval. Number should be no. not nr. In endnotes, part should be pt, appendix app. Use gild, not guild. Use ‘above’ and ‘below’ in endnote references, not supra and infra.
9. Capitals: Use initial capitals for Act or Bill. Use initial lower case for ‘south western England’, with upper case for the ‘South West’. Use initial lower case when referring to titled people generally, but capitals when referring to one specific individual by title. Thus ‘captains’, ‘admirals’, ‘mayors’ but ‘the Prince of Denmark’, ‘King Alexander III’, ‘Admiral Benbow’, ‘Captain Trelawney’, ‘the Mayor of Casterbridge’.
10. Hyphens: In general, hyphens should be used as sparingly as possible. However, when two words are used adjectively (provided one of the two is not an adverb) the two words should be hyphenated; thus ‘working-class housing’, ‘nineteenth-century urbanization’, but ‘very rapid municipalization’. The following compound words are now deemed not to need a hyphen: ‘prewar’, ‘interwar’, ‘postwar’ (but still ‘macro-economic’).
11. Abbreviations: Well-known abbreviations should be used where appropriate. Abbreviated words should be followed by a full stop except in cases where the abbreviation comprises the first and last letters. Thus ‘prof.’, ‘Co.’ and ‘ed.’, but ‘Dr’ ‘jr’ ‘eds’, ‘pt’ ‘Mr’ and ‘Mrs’. Use ‘&’ in titles of firms, not ‘and’, e.g. Babcock & Wilcox.
12. Ships’ names should be italicized. HMS should only be used to distinguish naval ships from merchant ships, for example HMS Scotsman. Other forms might be used to identify naval vessels, such as ‘the frigate Minerva’ or ‘the battle-cruiser Hood’. Authors should use their discretion as to whether to include the following:
    • Captains’ names. The name of the master should be separated by commas, and rank included for naval personnel. Thus:
      Duke, Woodes Rogers
      Minerva, Lt-Cdr Richards
      Bellerophon, Capt. Maitland
    • Number of guns. The following style should be adopted:
      Bellerophon (74).
13. Directions: Use capitals, but not full stops, for compass points and courses. Thus, NNE, SSW, W by N.

Amended 10 February 2008

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