Duties of a Captain’s Secretary

Heroes Remember

Duties of a Captain’s Secretary

Transcript

I was sitting in the captain's office, the captain's sec was a Lt commander, very senior who, because the captains in the RN, particularly a senior captain like H.R.G. Kinahan who this chap was, brought their secretary with them, but he hadn't been on leave for several years or for at least a year, so he went off on three week's leave. So I was with him a couple of weeks, he left me for three weeks as captain's sec, acting, probationary, unpaid what have you, and I, but I said, the captain was pretty good but he was, he expected more than, than I was able to offer I'm sure. But I did that for three weeks and then I, the sec came back and quite a while after he said, he told me that, "I'm still finding mistakes you made." But, anyway, I was in the captain's office and then you had that strange system which the RCN kept going right through the war pretty well, at least the first part of it, of having to get a ledger certificate to keep accounts, it was all that, you had to do it for two quarters. So I moved from the captain's office to the pay office, and I was keeping a ledger there of officers and marines and certain people under the watchful eye of a chief petty, of a chief writer. I remember having great difficulty with pounds, shillings and pence. I always kidded the chief writer with, "How many are in what?" But anyway that went on for quite a while, well I was there until, I think my note I have, there until the middle of November. The ship itself worked up at Scapa Flow and we had a, we went up from, from Newcastle to Rosyth and they finished fitting out over several weeks and then we went up to Scapa and we joined all the other battleships and cruisers that were up there.

Description

Mr. Treherne talks about acting as the captain’s sec.

Thomas Claude Treherne

Mr. Treherne returned to Canada after the war and continued his military career as a senior instructor at Naden Supply School. Mr. Treherne maintains a family history of his father's and grandfather's service lives. He is currently writing his memoirs of his navy service in the supply branch, and also serves as a member of the Council for Canadian Security in the 21st Century (CCS 21).

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 02:21
Person Interviewed:: Thomas Claude Treherne
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: Great Britain
Battle/Campaign:: Battle of Britain
Branch:: Navy
Units/Ship:: HMCS Anson
Rank:: Midshipman
Occupation:: Pay Master

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Duties of a Captain’s Secretary

Heroes Remember