Crossword Genius

Messenger from warship with one note penned by servant (7,6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

carrier pigeon

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'messenger' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'warship with one note penned by servant' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'warship' could be 'carrier' (carrier is a kind of warship) and 'carrier' is found in the answer.
an anagram of 'one' is 'eon' which is within the answer.
'note' could be 'g' (musical note) and 'g' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'pi' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

'from' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for carrier pigeon that I've seen before include "Avian messenger" , "Bird used for communication" , "Aerial messenger" , "Bird with message" , "Messenger bird" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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