Older Royal Navy usage included recognizance as well as reconnaissance. In the distinction drawn here, reconnaissance reports what an observer believes to be true, while recognizance reports what the observer knows or recognises. By the Swordfish period, the naval TSR designation used reconnaissance as the services worked toward more consistent terminology. Earlier documents could still use both words, and recognizance later survived chiefly in legal language. Silently replacing unfamiliar period terminology can remove distinctions that mattered to the original writer.
Notable Point · 5:49-9:08
Recognizance, reconnaissance, and changing naval terminology
The distinction drawn between recognizance and reconnaissance illustrates what can be lost when historical documents are rewritten in modern terminology.