Character guide

Unknown Narrator

major

Also known as I, me, my, mine, myself, our, ours, we, us

He moves easily between London's Hatton Garden, where pearls and shell prices rule his days, and the pull of Thursday Island's reefs, diggings, and polyglot ports. His gift is talk — he can conjure a gold rush or a Kanaka billiard saloon until a listener's eyes sparkle — but that same openness leaves him exposed when old dangers resurface. When a hand falls on his shoulder in Trafalgar Square, his ticket already booked, the reader learns that escape and entanglement are the same journey for him.

Dr. Nikola

major

Also known as Prologue Dr. Nikola, this Dr. Nikola, Nikola, IX Dr. Nikola Permits

He operates through intermediaries like Eastover and Draper, receiving reports and issuing orders with the calm of a man who has already won. His signature is in the paper he buys at an ordinary stationer's shop, in letters that arrive as threats and instructions, and in the fear he inspires even in those who have never met him. The early investigation into a missing girl keeps circling back to him, making him the shadow the whole plot is measured against.

Richard Hatteras

major

Also known as Hatteras, Mr. Hatteras, Dear Mr. Hatteras, Richard, Mr. Richard Hatteras of Thursday Island, Dick, Dick Hatteras

He boards the steamer at Naples with his baggage and his memories, greeting Lord Beckenham like a brother and watching Vesuvius fade astern while he thinks of the Southern Cross and the girl he loves. His history with Nikola makes him useful to the frightened men around him, and his instinct for a tail — the stranger who keeps appearing in Melbourne, at the library, in the theatre stalls — keeps the investigation honest. He is the story's eyes and its conscience, moving between drawing rooms and ferries with equal ease.

Lord Beckenham

major

Also known as Mr. Wetherell, Marquis of Beckenham, Beckenham, Wetherell, The Marquis, Marquis, Presently Beckenham, the Marquis of Beckenham, Bidding Beckenham, Both Mr. Wetherell, The Marquis of Beckenham, the real Lord Beckenham, III Lord Beckenham

He is delighted to find Hatteras aboard, eager to see everything, and utterly unprepared for the quiet men who study him from a distance. His long conversation with the shrewd, grey-haired stranger overlooking the harbour shows a mind that romanticizes ships, emigrants, and far-off fjords — exactly the openness a predator would cultivate. When his identity is later used as a weapon, the reader understands that his innocence was the point all along.

Prendergast

supporting

Also known as Baxter, Mr. Baxter of Mr. Prendergast, Mr. Baxter, Mr. Prendergast, That scoundrel Baxter, the tutor Baxter, that scoundrel Baxter

He moves through Melbourne and Sydney as a respectable servant of a noble household, greeting Hatteras with more cordiality than expected and betraying no surprise at anything. His presence in the front row of a theatre, his quiet errands, and the forged cablegram attributed to his hand mark him as the gang's inside man. The search for him after a girl vanishes turns a domestic employee into the plot's most intimate threat.

Phyllis

supporting

Also known as Miss Phyllis

She is the reason Hatteras's thoughts turn southward on the voyage home, and the reason a nobleman's proposal is treated as a transaction to be verified with cablegrams and signatures. Her father's wealth makes her a target, and her coachman's battered return after a ball turns her absence into a citywide police search. She is both the emotional center of the early arc and the object that reveals how far Nikola's network has reached into ordinary households.

Miss Wetherell

supporting

Also known as Wetherell

As Lord Beckenham's daughter and the object of the narrator's protective devotion, Phyllis is carried exhausted from the undergrowth during a frantic escape, then handed to the captain's charge while the men row back for her missing father. Her terror for old Mr. Wetherell, and the narrator's refusal to risk her recapture, sharpen the stakes of the island search. She matters because her safety is the emotional engine driving the rescue party through the early-middle arc.

Mr. Mathew Draper

supporting

Also known as Mr. Draper, Draper, No Mr. Draper

Draper presents himself to Thompson as an English gentleman flush with racing money, offering the coachman a manager's post and a drink at the Canary Bird Hotel. His small hands, death's-head complexion, and glittering black eyes mark him as the very man who shadowed the party from Melbourne. His drugged conspiracy to abduct Miss Wetherell exposes the organized criminal machinery working against the Wetherells.

China Pete

supporting

Also known as Pete

China Pete lies dying with the key to a vast fortune in his hand, a talisman the priests of Peking's Llamaserai have tried six times to kill him for. He reveals that Nikola has schemed for five years to obtain it, and that the murder on board ship was tied to it. His confession plants the object of the novel's central pursuit and sketches Nikola's reach before the reader ever meets him.

Mr. Matchem

supporting

Matchem works the case from the ground up, drawing out Thompson's account of the Canary Bird Hotel and the affable stranger who plied him with rum. His methodical questioning turns a coachman's muddled memory into a description that matches the man who followed the party from Melbourne. He matters because his inquiry converts private anxiety into a public manhunt, giving the early-middle arc its investigative spine.

McMurtough

minor

Also known as Mr. McMurtough

A sailor or ship's officer encountered during the voyage.

Eastover

minor

Also known as Mr. Eastover

A minor character met in London or Sydney.

James Dymoke Hatteras

minor

Also known as James

Relative of Richard Hatteras, possibly his father or uncle.

Mr. Thompson

minor

Also known as Thompson

A minor character, possibly a servant or official.

Dawson

minor

Also known as Mr. Dawson

A crew member or associate on the voyage.

Podgers

minor

Also known as Mr. Podgers

A servant or minor functionary in the story.

Sir William Hatteras

minor

Also known as Sir William, Hatteras

A distinguished relative of Richard Hatteras.

Ah Chong

minor

A Chinese servant or associate of Dr. Nikola.

Mr. Inspector

minor

A police inspector investigating the crimes.

Gwendoline

minor

Also known as Miss Gwendoline

A young woman briefly appearing in the narrative.

Old Donald Maclean

minor

Also known as Maclean

An elderly Scottish character encountered in Australia.

Miss Thompson

minor

Also known as Thompson

A minor female character, possibly a relative of Mr. Thompson.

Sally

minor

Also known as old Aunt Sally, old Sally

An elderly servant or relative in the Hatteras household.

Mrs. Mayford

minor

A landlady or housekeeper with a brief appearance.

Jim Percival

minor

Also known as Percival, James

A friend or acquaintance of the narrator.

Lord Amberley

minor

A nobleman mentioned in passing, possibly a victim of Nikola.

Maxwell

minor

Also known as Mr. Maxwell, Bidding Mr. Maxwell

An auctioneer or businessman involved in a key scene.

Miss Tiffins

minor

A minor female character, possibly a governess or companion.

Williams

minor

A servant or sailor with a minor role.