It sounds to me that the easiest way would be to go Kew and photograph the  
originals. I know it is a pain and expensive getting there, but with a half 
 decent digital camera you can do an awful lot of work in a short space of 
time.  It's just a matter of pre-ordering documents and getting into a 
rythem.
 
I find transcribing much easier when the photo can be brought up on the  
computer screen and word or excel can be positioned under the line I'm working 
 on.
 
Much less frustrating than working with poor quality microfilm/fiche and in 
 the long run would take much less time, especially when as Peter says, 
you'd  need to check against the original.
 
Ian
 
 
In a message dated 09/09/2012 09:05:09 GMT Daylight Time,  
[log in to unmask] writes:

At 08:11  09/09/2012, Rick Stewart wrote:
>  I understand that Woverhampton  Poly undertook a project to 
> transcribe the Gloucester port books; did  they do anything else 
> (i.e Plymouth)?   I possibly have  access to a partial transcription 
> of the Plymouth books  but  ideally I would like to be able to see 
> the whole lot.  Am I just  goin to have to plough on with th e 
> grotty micofiche or biteth  ebullet and make th etrip up to the 
> national archives?

Keep  ploughing Rick.

The Wolverhampton project focused on Bristol Channel  trade, and the 
analysis of the Gloucester data was published as Hussey et  al., The 
Gloucester Coastal Port Books 1575-1765, (1995), but the full  data 
set was stored on the mainframe at the university. Unfortunately  
software changes mean that data set is no longer accessible. The same  
thing happened with the Mineral Statistics at Exeter and it took  
decades to recover the data. In the Wolverhampton case, I understand  
the data set was corrupted and will never see the light of day again 
-  a considerable waste of research time.

The best you could do is work on  the microfilm then check your 
transcripts against the originals in the  National Archives: PRO 
(Kew). The original material is certainly easier to  deal with.

Other lines of enquiry you might also try are post grad  studies based 
on the portbooks - there was a PHD thesis a few years back  looking at 
early modern trade and the Duchy of Cornwall which may have  included 
Plymouth itself (the port of Plymouth covers all the creeks in  
Cornwall so you have to be selective) but I cannot recall the author  
(Roger Burt will remind me - he once lent me a copy of the  thesis).

Peter


Dr Peter Claughton,
Blaenpant Morfil, nr.  Rosebush, Clynderwen, Pembrokeshire, Wales  SA66 7RE.
Tel. +44 (0)1437  532578; Fax. +44 (0)1437 532921; Mobile +44 (0)7831 427599

Hon.  University Fellow - College of Humanities, University of  Exeter
http://people.exeter.ac.uk/pfclaugh/about.htm
E-mail:   [log in to unmask]

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