Ah, the life of a sea captain: the beauty of the ocean, the thrill of adventure, the pride of command, the ... joy of bookkeeping? Hope you like team meetings, too. That's because many navies were actually massive bureaucracies. Captains on privately held ships might have been able to loosen up a bit, but few navies would brook such nonsense.
As a result, captains in military contexts had to undertake plenty of unglamorous work. U.S. Navy captains during the War of 1812 had to ensure that their ships and crews were set up to face battle. This meant that they had to make a careful accounting of their supplies, recruit the right sailors, and then oversee the training that was vital to surviving a naval battle. He also had to make all the decisions, which could include both thrilling work during an engagement with British ships, day-to-day discipline, and nitty-gritty details about how to sail the ship.
The everyday life of such captains could also be filled with meetings and reports from various officers, informing him of the shape of his ship, the health of the men, the state of the stores, and other details that might make an adventure-minded person yawn. Yet, as much as nitpicking logbooks and surgeon's reports might feel like a paper-pushing nightmare, it was vital to make sure as many people survived as possible when battle loomed or the crew was in the middle of the ocean.
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