Character guide

Dick Sands

major

Also known as Dick, Sands, young Sands, Captain Dick, Dick Sand, Mr. Dick

Raised in charitable institutions and trained at sea since age eight, Dick has made himself invaluable to Captain Hull and the Weldon family, who treat him almost as a son. His defining quality is not boldness but the rarer courage of deliberation—he thinks before he acts, a habit that will be tested when authority falls to him far too soon. His devotion to Mrs. Weldon and young Jack gives his ambition a personal stake, making his rise from cabin-boy to captain both a triumph and a burden.

Mrs. Weldon

major

Also known as Weldon

Having accompanied her husband on numerous voyages, Mrs. Weldon is no stranger to the sea's makeshifts, yet she hesitates when Dick proposes scouting the unknown coast—her nervousness at odds with her usual composure. She has acted as a mother to Dick for years, and her trust in his judgment is genuine even when fear pulls against it. Her presence aboard raises the stakes of every decision: the Pilgrim carries not just cargo, but a family whose survival depends on the boy captain's choices.

Cousin Benedict

supporting

Also known as Benedict, poor Benedict, Mr. Benedict

Cousin Benedict drifts through the voyage in a fog of taxonomic enthusiasm, stubbornly insisting a capsized hull is a sleeping cetacean even when the evidence is plain. His single-minded pursuit of specimens makes him oblivious to danger and indifferent to the crew's mounting anxieties. Yet his peculiar expertise and wandering attention place him at the edges of the story's turning points, where his harmless mania may matter more than anyone expects.

Negoro

major

Also known as Harris, Ibn Hamish

Negoro keeps to himself, nursing grievances and concealing a past that connects him to the slave trade rather than the whale fishery. He is a coward who delights in cruelty only when his victim is helpless, as his gloating visit to a bound Dick Sands makes chillingly clear. His quiet manipulation of the ship's course turns a simple voyage home into a trap, making him the engine of the novel's central catastrophe.

Hercules

supporting

Hercules stands out among the ship's company for his physical might and his steadfast devotion to Dick and the Weldon family. When the survivors find themselves stranded in unknown territory, his courage and endurance become the group's last line of defense against both human predators and the wilderness itself. Negoro dismisses him as dead, but Hercules's survival—and his determination to protect those he serves—hangs over the villain's schemes like a reckoning waiting to happen.

Jack Weldon

supporting

Also known as little Jack, Master Jack, Little Jack

Little Jack was too ill to travel when his father returned to San Francisco, so he and his mother waited in Auckland until the Pilgrim arrived to carry them home. He befriends Dick Sands with the easy trust of a child, and his mother's devotion to him shapes her every cautious decision. His youth makes him both the emotional center of the family's voyage and a constant reminder of what Dick must protect when the journey goes catastrophically wrong.

Tom

supporting

Also known as old Tom, Old Tom, poor old Tom

An elderly former slave whose quiet dignity and steady loyalty make him a moral anchor for the castaways of the Pilgrim.

Dingo

supporting

Also known as Poor Dingo

A gaunt, watchful dog who carries a dead man's secret in his collar and a murderer's scent in his memory.

Captain Hull

minor

The original captain of the Pilgrim who dies in a whaling accident.

Alvez

supporting

Also known as old Alvez, José Antonio Alvez, Antonio Alvez

A Portuguese slave trader whose vast Kazonndé market reduces human beings to chained lots and haggled prices.

Nan

minor

Also known as old Nan, Poor Nan, Poor old Nan

An elderly former slave and nurse to Jack Weldon.

Bat

minor

Also known as Bartholomew, Bidding Bat

A young African boy rescued alongside Hercules.

Austin

minor

One of the former slaves who becomes a crew member.

Coïmbra

minor

A sailor from the Waldeck rescued at sea.

James W. Weldon

minor

Also known as James Weldon, Weldon

Mrs. Weldon's husband, a wealthy shipowner in San Francisco.

Queen Moena

minor

Also known as Moena

A powerful African queen involved in the slave trade.

Halima

minor

A native woman who helps the castaways during their journey.

Actaeon

minor

One of the former slaves who joins the Pilgrim's crew.

Howick

minor

A sailor from the Waldeck rescued at sea.

Moené Loonga

minor

Also known as Loonga

A native chief encountered by the castaways in Africa.

Samuel Vernon

minor

Also known as Vernon, poor Vernon

A former slave trader who left a message about Dingo's owner.

Dirk

minor

A Dutch sailor from the Waldeck rescued at sea.