# Capt. Ned Blakely — Roughing It character guide

> Capt. Ned Blakely in Roughing It by Mark Twain.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Capt . Ned Blakely, Ned, Ned Blakely, Blakely

**First appearance:** 0001-roughing-it

## Snapshot

A sea captain who marches a lantern-lit quartermaster up to a desperado's den at gunpoint and sees no reason a hanging should wait on a trial.

## Who they are

Blakely is the harbor's most decisive man, a captain who arrests Bill Noakes by walking behind his quartermaster with a double-barreled gun rested on the man's shoulder and the warning 'you know me.' When the other captains protest that Noakes must be tried before he hangs, Ned genuinely cannot parse the objection: the man killed the nigger, so the man hangs, and he offers to attend the trial afterward if it will give satisfaction. His frontier logic collides with legal ceremony, and the collision is the whole grim comedy.

## In the story

### [L](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/roughing_it_se/chapters/l)

The protagonist of the story, a stalwart, warm-hearted sailor who enforces his own brand of justice after his mate is murdered.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/roughing_it_se/characters/ned_blakely
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/roughing_it_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/roughing_it_se/characters