Talk:Captain's clerk

A fact from Captain's clerk appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 10 May 2009 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that a captain's clerk was a job, now obsolete, in the Royal Navy for a person employed by the captain to keep his records and correspondence, and his accounts for the Admiralty to approve?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2009/May.

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United States Navy

Nice to see acknowledgement that USN also had Captain's clerks, but why not also mention that Edmund Roberts (diplomat) was ordered to use it as a cover in his role as Jackson's Secret Agent? As his article links here, I won't add it back without consensus. --Pawyilee (talk) 13:48, 17 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Heck, it should qualify as a new DYK that he drew per diem at the rate of $6 a day.^[1]^{: Annex C pp.308-9}! --Pawyilee (talk) 14:00, 17 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I apologize - I quickly whipped that together and I should have restored what you wrote with some comments here. I'm pretty sure the official rating is clerk, not captain's clerk so you might want to research that in the sources you used. The whole per diem portion is trivia and doesn't have anything to do with being a clerk, its because he was a spy (or the rampant corruption in the Navy prior to the Civil War). The key problem is while the person seems notable he doesn't really meet the MilHist notability guidelines as clerk, but that's probably only a problem if this article goes up for an A review. Kirk (talk) 17:05, 18 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I greatly appreciate what you've done so far, and agree with your "notability" remark; but I need to clear up Roberts' role, and to frankly admit I'm nonplussed by rampant corruption in the Navy prior to the Civil War. I'd even more greatly appreciate your bringing that up on Roberts' talk page, where so far I've gotten no help at all. His commission came through family ties, and not from Navy but State, signed by Edward Livingston, a failed politician precisely because he wasn't corrupt. First paragraph

Sir:— The President having named you his agent for the purpose of examining, in the Indian Ocean, the means of extending the commerce of the United States by commercial arrangement with the powers whose dominions border on those seas. You will embark on board of the United States Sloop of war, the Peacock, in which vessel for the purpose of concealing your mission from powers whose interest it might be to thwart the objects the President has in view, you will be rated as Captain’s Clerk. Your real character is known to Captain Geisinger, and need not be to any other person on board unless you find it necessary, for the purpose of your mission, to communicate it to others.

To see it, click on the first link, below, and once it loads, click on "Page 308" in the left side search pane. NDU Library's site is really tricky to use, and I only luck into a link – the second one below goes to a 403 error. Though the basic document is copyrighted, all the documents in the appendixes are government. Do you know how to get them into Wikisource? It also baffles me. I read they accept PDFs, and the box at the top of NDU Library's search pane offers a means of downloading them; Document Properties say no security, and copying allowed; but my brain is as slow as my backwoods Internet connection. BTW, Roberts' per diem rate was added in a postscript; a Bill proposed a posthumous promotion and increase in pay payable to his executors, but I can't find a record of what happened next. --Pawyilee (talk) 15:30, 20 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

^ Miller, Robert Hopkins (1990). "Chapter II: Edmund Roberts, special agent, and the sloop-of-war Peacock". The United States and Vietnam, 1787-1941. Washington, DC: National Defense University Press. p. 23. ISBN 978-0-7881-0810-5. OCLC 90013317. Retrieved June 20, 2012. {{cite book}}: External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)

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[Miller-1] Miller, Robert Hopkins (1990). "Chapter II: Edmund Roberts, special agent, and the sloop-of-war Peacock". The United States and Vietnam, 1787-1941. Washington, DC: National Defense University Press. p. 23. ISBN 978-0-7881-0810-5. OCLC 90013317. Retrieved June 20, 2012. {{cite book}}: External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)

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