# In Search of the Castaways — Character guide

> Key figures in In Search of the Castaways by Jules Verne.

- [Lord Glenarvan](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/in_search_of_the_castaways_se/characters/lord_glenarvan.md): Glenarvan is a wealthy, well-connected Scottish lord whose planned pleasure cruise aboard the Duncan is upended the moment Mary and Robert Grant appear in his courtyard pleading for their lost father. His instinct to hel
- [Jacques Paganel](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/in_search_of_the_castaways_se/characters/jacques_paganel.md): Paganel is a distinguished member of the Geographical Society whose encyclopedic knowledge of coastlines, minerals, and colonial statistics is matched only by his genius for boarding the wrong vessel. He is loquacious, c
- [Captain Harry Grant](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/in_search_of_the_castaways_se/characters/captain_grant.md): Grant is the absent center of the story: a skilled navigator and devout Scotchman whose shipwrecked Britannia leaves behind only a water-damaged document and two orphaned children. His letter, cast into the sea and deliv
- [Robert Grant](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/in_search_of_the_castaways_se/characters/robert_grant.md): Robert is the twelve-year-old son of the missing captain, a boy whose clenched fists and unfinished threats show a temper as fierce as his loyalty. He joins the Duncan's voyage alongside his sister Mary, and his reckless
- [Mary Grant](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/in_search_of_the_castaways_se/characters/mary_grant.md): Mary is the young woman who kneels before Lord Glenarvan and declares she will throw herself at the Queen's feet if no one else will help find her father. Her dignity under disappointment — thanking the officials even as
- [John Mangles](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/in_search_of_the_castaways_se/characters/john_mangles.md): Mangles commands the Duncan with the composure of a far older sailor, navigating unknown southern seas while his passengers chase a document's riddles. His first encounter with Paganel — being mistaken for Captain Burton
- [Ayrton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/in_search_of_the_castaways_se/characters/ayrton.md): Ayrton presents himself as a loyal sailor who served under Captain Grant, but his refusal to speak — and his cold indifference to the fate of the man he claims to have followed — unsettles Glenarvan's trust. He parries e
- [Lady Helena](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/in_search_of_the_castaways_se/characters/lady_helena.md): When Mary and Robert Grant arrive at Malcolm Castle, Lady Helena meets them not with pity but with careful honesty, refusing to offer false hope while still kindling their courage. Her compassion gives the children a hom
- [Major MacNabb](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/in_search_of_the_castaways_se/characters/major_macnabb.md): MacNabb is the kind of man who watches a stranger tumble at his feet without so much as a blink, then returns to his pipe and his own quiet thoughts. His loyalty to Glenarvan is absolute, but expressed through presence r
- [Thalcave](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/in_search_of_the_castaways_se/characters/thalcave.md): Thalcave joins the party as a guide through the South American interior, communicating more through gesture and deed than speech, and placing his faith in Thaouka's sure-footed sagacity where maps fail. He embodies a kno
- [Wilson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/in_search_of_the_castaways_se/characters/wilson.md): Able seaman on the Duncan who accompanies the search party.
- [Mulready](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/in_search_of_the_castaways_se/characters/mulready.md): Sailor on the Duncan who assists during the voyage.
- [Tom Austin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/in_search_of_the_castaways_se/characters/tom_austin.md): Trustworthy mate of the Duncan left in charge of the yacht.
- [Mr. Olbinett](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/in_search_of_the_castaways_se/characters/olbinett.md): Steward on the Duncan who manages provisions.
- [Ben Joyce](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/in_search_of_the_castaways_se/characters/ben_joyce.md): Ben Joyce commands a gang of convicts who escaped the Perth penitentiary and have since terrorized the Melbourne and Sandhurst Railway, derailing the night express and murdering a guard. The colonial authorities warn set
- [Kai-Koumou](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/in_search_of_the_castaways_se/characters/kai_koumou.md): Maori chief who captures the Glenarvan party in New Zealand.

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