# Sergeant Daw — The Sea Mystery character guide

> Sergeant Daw in The Sea Mystery by Freeman Wills Crofts.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Daw, Sergeant

**First appearance:** 0001-ii-inspector-french-gets-busy

## Snapshot

Ashburton's rural police sergeant, sharper than his rank suggests, who supplies French with local knowledge and stout disbelief in equal measure.

## Who they are

Daw knows the Veda Works, its hundred employees, and the reputations of the gentlemen who run it, and he is flattered enough by French's confiding manner to help freely. But when French proposes that Berlyn and Pyke may not have died in the mire at all, the sergeant's loyalty to their memory hardens into open scepticism. His resistance gives the investigation its friction: the man who knows the ground refuses to believe what the ground implies.

## Relationships

### [Colonel Domlio](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_sea_mystery_se/characters/colonel_domlio)

_professional_

Colonel Domlio and Sergeant Daw cooperate as local law enforcement and military contacts.

### [Colonel Domlio](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_sea_mystery_se/characters/colonel_domlio)

_professional_

Colonel Domlio and Sergeant Daw cooperate as local law enforcement and military contacts.

### [Colonel Domlio](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_sea_mystery_se/characters/colonel_domlio)

_professional_

Colonel Domlio and Sergeant Daw cooperate as local law enforcement and military contacts.

## In the story

### [V: Messrs. Berlyn and Pyke](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_sea_mystery_se/chapters/v-messrs-berlyn-and-pyke)

Local sergeant who investigated the disappearance of Berlyn and Pyke; provides French with descriptions of the missing men.

### [Dartmoor](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_sea_mystery_se/chapters/vii-dartmoor)

Assists French, recounts the night of the disappearance, and accompanies him on the drive.

### [VIII: A Fresh Start](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_sea_mystery_se/chapters/viii-a-fresh-start)

Discusses the impossibility of disposing of a body in the mires and provides local gossip about Mrs. Berlyn's relationships.

### [XIII: The Accomplice?](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_sea_mystery_se/chapters/xiii-the-accomplice)

Informs French of the rumor that Berlyn murdered Pyke; provides background information on Colonel Domlio.

### [XIV: French Turns Fisherman](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_sea_mystery_se/chapters/xiv-french-turns-fisherman)

Assists French in the nighttime fishing expedition at the well.

### [Blackmail](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_sea_mystery_se/chapters/xv-blackmail)

Assists French in obtaining a pump and preparing to drain the well.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_sea_mystery_se/characters/sergeant_daw
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_sea_mystery_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_sea_mystery_se/characters