# A High Wind in Jamaica — Character guide

> Key figures in A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes.

- [Emily Thornton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_high_wind_in_jamaica_se/characters/emily_thornton.md): Emily drifts between Jamaica and a pirate schooner with a child's eerie adaptability, drawing pictures in the captain's cabin and hoarding her one great possession, an earthquake. Miss Dawson's gentle interrogations abou
- [Captain Jonsen](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_high_wind_in_jamaica_se/characters/captain_jonsen.md): Jonsen runs the schooner with Nordic tidiness and a schemer's patience, staking everything on returning the children safely to discredit his accusers. Yet the cabin wall still bears Emily's puerile drawings, and the penc
- [Rachel Thornton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_high_wind_in_jamaica_se/characters/rachel_thornton.md): Rachel moves through the schooner as the responsible elder sister, the one whose judgment the younger children quietly lean on. Because she knows the pirates are deadly wicked, she never contradicts Edward's tales of blo
- [Edward Thornton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_high_wind_in_jamaica_se/characters/edward_thornton.md): Edward treats the pirate ship as a playground, rehearsing galley-stormings with Harry and swathing himself in the flying-jib for hide-and-seek. When adults come asking for tales of bloodshed, he sees at once what they wa
- [Mrs. Thornton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_high_wind_in_jamaica_se/characters/mrs_thornton.md): Mrs. Thornton presides over the family's tropical life with an eye on appearances, wary of the wild Fernandez children running barefoot like negroes and of a governess whose blood is possibly not pure. She is nonetheless
- [Margaret Fernandez](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_high_wind_in_jamaica_se/characters/margaret_fernandez.md): Margaret comes from the ramshackle estate the Thorntons visit, a household of barefoot children, hairbrush beatings, and questionable bloodlines. She is among the young passengers caught up in the Clorinda affair, and Jo
- [Otto](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_high_wind_in_jamaica_se/characters/otto.md): Otto is the pirate who must prepare the captured Thornton children to be handed off to a steamer bound for England, feeding them a cover story about rescue rather than piracy. His anxiety is the scene's engine: he watche
- [Mr. Mathias](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_high_wind_in_jamaica_se/characters/mr_mathias.md): A lawyer or official involved in the children's affairs.
- [Captain Marpole](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_high_wind_in_jamaica_se/characters/captain_marpole.md): Captain of a ship encountered by the pirates.
- [Redheaded John](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_high_wind_in_jamaica_se/characters/redheaded_john.md): A pirate crew member on Jonsen's ship.
- [Harry](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_high_wind_in_jamaica_se/characters/harry.md): A young boy among the captured children.
- [José](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_high_wind_in_jamaica_se/characters/jose.md): An old pirate or sailor on the ship.
- [Miss Dawson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_high_wind_in_jamaica_se/characters/miss_dawson.md): A governess or chaperone for the children.
- [Dutch Captain](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_high_wind_in_jamaica_se/characters/dutch_captain.md): Captain of a Dutch ship encountered at sea.
- [Quacko Sam](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_high_wind_in_jamaica_se/characters/quacko_sam.md): An old sailor or servant on the pirate ship.
- [Young Henry Marpole](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_high_wind_in_jamaica_se/characters/young_henry_marpole.md): Son of Captain Marpole, briefly appears.
- [John Dodson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_high_wind_in_jamaica_se/characters/john_dodson.md): A sailor or crew member on a ship.
- [Sam](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_high_wind_in_jamaica_se/characters/sam.md): A servant or crew member.
- [Louisa Dawson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_high_wind_in_jamaica_se/characters/louisa_dawson.md): A young girl, possibly a relative of Miss Dawson.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_high_wind_in_jamaica_se/characters