Captain's clerk: Difference between revisions

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

A '''captain's clerk''' was a [[naval rating|rating]], now obsolete, in the [[Royal Navy]] and the [[United States Navy]] for a person employed by the [[Captain (nautical)|captain]] to keep his [[Document|records]], [[communication|correspondence]], and [[Account (accountancy)|accounts]].<ref name="lavery136"/> The regulations of the [[Royal Navy]] demanded that a [[purser]] serve at least one year as a captain's clerk, so the latter was often a young man working his way to a purser's warrant.<ref name="laver101">{{cite book|last=Lavery|first=Brian|title=Nelson's Navy: The Ships, Men and Organization|year=1989|location=Annapolis, Md|publisher=Naval Institute Press|isbn=0-87021-258-3|pages=[https://archive.org/details/nelsonsnavyships00lave/page/101 101]|url=https://archive.org/details/nelsonsnavyships00lave/page/101}}</ref> He had high status, with an office on the [[Deck (ship)#Common names for decks|quarterdeck]] or [[Deck (ship)#Common names for decks|upper deck]] on most ships. He was paid at the same rate as a [[midshipman]] in 1800, but by 1815 he had almost the same monthly pay as a [[Warrant Officer#Standing warrant officers|standing warrant officer]].<ref name="Lewis294">{{cite book|last=Lewis|first=Michael|title=A Social History of the Navy|publisher=Ruskin House|location=London|year=1960|pages=294}}</ref> On large ships, he had his own cabin in the gunroom, but on smaller vessels he lived with the midshipmen on the [[orlop deck]].<ref name="lavery136">{{cite book|last=Lavery|first=Brian|title=Nelson's Navy: The Ships, Men and Organization|year=1989|location=Annapolis, Md|publisher=Naval Institute Press|isbn=0-87021-258-3|pages=[https://archive.org/details/nelsonsnavyships00lave/page/136 136–140]|url=https://archive.org/details/nelsonsnavyships00lave/page/136}}</ref>