# Old Salt Kossabone — Leaves of Grass character guide

> Old Salt Kossabone in Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman.

**Role:** minor

**Also known as:** Old Salt

**First appearance:** 0654-orange-buds-by-mail-from-florida

## Who they are

An aged sailor character in a late poem about memory and the sea.

## Relationships

### [Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/characters/narrator)

_friendship_

Old Salt Kossabone is a weathered, wise sailor with whom the narrator shares a bond of rugged experience and storytelling.

### [Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/characters/narrator)

_friendship_

Old Salt Kossabone is a weathered, wise sailor with whom the narrator shares a bond of rugged experience and storytelling.

## In the story

### [The Midnight Wreck](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/chapters/36)

Mentioned as the dead face of an old salt with long white hair and curled whiskers.

### [Now Finalè to the Shore](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/chapters/now-final-to-the-shore)

Referenced as 'old Sailor' embarking on the final voyage.

### [Old Salt Kossabone](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/chapters/old-salt-kossabone)

The central figure, a nearly 90-year-old retired sailor who dies peacefully while watching ships from his armchair.

### [Twenty Years](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/chapters/twenty-years)

The returned sailor, now berry-brown and bearded, who left as a boy and returns after twenty years.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/characters/old_salt_kossabone
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/characters