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Disbursing
Clerks
History
The Disbursing Clerk rating was established in 1948 from the
wartime rating of storekeeper (D) (Disbursing Clerk). However,
way back in 1861 there was a Paymaster's Steward that was
changed to Paymaster's Writer in 1870 and changed again to
Paymaster's Yeoman in 1878.
Under the pay scale of today's Navy a seaman apprentice upon
completion of recruit training is entitle to twice as much base
pay as was a captain of the new Navy nearly 200 years ago. To
protect our commerce at sea, an act of Congress (27 March 1794)
authorized the building and manning of six frigates. The act
contained only nine sections, three of which had to do with pay
and subsistence and allowed that the monthly pay of commissioned
and warrant officers and enlisted personnel should be as
follows: Captains, $75.00; Surgeons, $50.00; Lieutenants,
Chaplains, Sailing Masters, and Pursers, $40.00; Surgeon's
Mates, $30.00; Lieutenants of Marines, $26.00; Boatswains,
Gunners, Sailmakers and Carpenters, $14.00. Petty Officers,
midshipmen, seamen, ordinary seamen, and marines would receive
pay as fixed by the President, "provided that the whole sum to
be given for the whole pay aforesaid shall not exceed $27,000
per month." When it is considered that the six vessels involved
in the original law were authorized a total complement of close
to 2,000 enlisted personnel it can be readily seen that the
financial lot of the petty officer and seamen was anything but
lucrative.
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