# The Young Captain — To Cuba and Back character guide

> The Young Captain in To Cuba and Back by Richard Henry Dana Jr..

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** the young captain

**First appearance:** 0001-to-cuba-and-back

## Snapshot

A young ship's captain whose command of the vessel carrying the narrator frames the voyage as both passage and apprenticeship in authority.

## Who they are

He holds the deck while the narrator observes, a working counterpart to the traveler's detached curiosity. Youth and command sit uneasily together in him, and the narrator's eye lingers on how responsibility sits on someone so young. He anchors the seaward half of the journey before Cuba's plantations take over the book's attention.

## Relationships

### [Unknown Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/to_cuba_and_back_se/characters/unknown_narrator)

_professional_

The Young Captain is a ship officer the narrator interacts with, likely in a professional capacity during the voyage.

## In the story

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/to_cuba_and_back_se/chapters/i)

The young captain, a former naval officer from Georgia, walks the deck with the narrator and discusses his regrets about leaving the navy due to lack of promotion.

### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/to_cuba_and_back_se/chapters/vi)

Mentioned as part of the group of visitors at mass, though not directly named.

### [X](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/to_cuba_and_back_se/chapters/x)

An intelligent shipmaster from New York who provides information about the Coolie trade.

### [XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/to_cuba_and_back_se/chapters/xi)

The younger gentleman at dinner who comes out to greet the narrator and call off the dogs.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/to_cuba_and_back_se/characters/the_young_captain
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/to_cuba_and_back_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/to_cuba_and_back_se/characters