# Two Years Before the Mast — Character guide

> Key figures in Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana Jr..

- [Richard Henry Dana Jr.](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/two_years_before_the_mast_se/characters/narrator.md): Dana is the educated son of a Boston family who signs aboard the Pilgrim as a common sailor, sharing forecastle bunks with the men he might otherwise have commanded. His double vision — gentleman's eye and sailor's hands
- [Captain Thompson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/two_years_before_the_mast_se/characters/captain_thompson.md): Thompson commands the Pilgrim with the conviction that a ship needs one voice and one fist, and he exercises both without apology. Dana grants him the logic of necessity — emergencies demand instant power — yet shows how
- [Tom Harris](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/two_years_before_the_mast_se/characters/tom_harris.md): Harris is the sailor next to Dana in age, experience, and standing in the watch, a natural raconteur whose tall tales keep the crew awake and laughing. He embodies the forecastle's rough camaraderie — the humor and share
- [Mr. F⸺](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/two_years_before_the_mast_se/characters/mr_f.md): Mr. F⸺ rules the deck with clenched fists and a voice built to annihilate, greeting even respectful grievances with oaths and threats of hazing. When the crew petitions for redress, he drives them forward and makes the '
- [John (French John)](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/two_years_before_the_mast_se/characters/john_french_john.md): John is the forecastle's senior hand, respected for seamanship and trusted to settle disputes, though Dana notes he is also the most ignorant man in the ship. When the cook's superstitions about Finns and headwinds need 
- [Mr. Russell](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/two_years_before_the_mast_se/characters/mr_russell.md): Russell's arc from petty California grandee to mud-caked fugitive is one of the book's sharpest reversals, a lesson in how quickly authority dissolves on a lawless coast. Dana encounters him twice — first as the imperiou
- [George Ballmer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/two_years_before_the_mast_se/characters/george_ballmer.md): George Ballmer is a boy before the mast, one of the youngest and least regarded members of the Pilgrim's crew, until a brutal fight with a fellow sailor named Nat transforms his standing. Cowed at first by the ship's hie
- [Captain Faucon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/two_years_before_the_mast_se/characters/captain_faucon.md): Captain Faucon commands the Ayacucho, one of the American vessels trading hides along the California coast, and his reputation for decency sets him apart from the Pilgrim's harsher regime. Where other captains rule by fe
- [Nicholas](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/two_years_before_the_mast_se/characters/nicholas.md): Nicholas is a Hawaiian sailor Dana meets curing hides at San Diego, a man so vast that no pair of shoes in California fits him and so seasoned that he has sailed on merchantmen, men-of-war, privateers, and worse. Illiter
- [Johnny Shark](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/two_years_before_the_mast_se/characters/johnny_shark.md): Johnny Shark, sometimes called Jack, is one of the Sandwich Islanders who sign on to American vessels along the California coast, filling the places of men who have gone ashore or deserted. He spins tall tales no one bel
- [Don Juan Bandini](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/two_years_before_the_mast_se/characters/don_juan_bandini.md): Don Juan Bandini is the son of a former Mexican governor, educated in the best society of the capital and now reduced to taking passage on the Pilgrim because he cannot pay for it. Graceful, well-spoken, and proud, he da
- [Mr. S⸺](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/two_years_before_the_mast_se/characters/mr_s.md): Mr. S⸺ serves as third mate aboard the Pilgrim, one of the officers who must enforce discipline on a crew worn down by months of hide-curing and hard weather. He is disliked by the men, yet he is also young, learning his
- [George P. Marsh](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/two_years_before_the_mast_se/characters/george_p_marsh.md): Marsh is one of the common run of sailors in the Pilgrim's watch, a man whose improbable yarns are spun purely for amusement and never meant to be believed. His humor and easy command of sailor's salt phrases make him a 
- [Foster](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/two_years_before_the_mast_se/characters/foster.md): An unlucky sailor on the Pilgrim, often the butt of jokes.
- [Sam](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/two_years_before_the_mast_se/characters/sam.md): Sam is a veteran hand whose years at sea earn him the crew's quiet respect, but neither experience nor standing protects him when the captain orders him seized up against the shrouds. The narrator, who has eaten and live
- [Old Wilson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/two_years_before_the_mast_se/characters/old_wilson.md): Old Wilson commands the Ayacucho, a sharp-bowed vessel whose crew's sudden activity warns the narrator's ship of a coming southeaster. His long experience on the coast has taught him to read the signs, and his decision t
- [Mr. Brown](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/two_years_before_the_mast_se/characters/mr_brown.md): A passenger on the Pilgrim, traveling to California for business.
- [Nat Ames](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/two_years_before_the_mast_se/characters/nat_ames.md): Nat Ames is one of the Boston boys just out of the public schools who signs aboard the Pilgrim, sharing the forecastle with the narrator and the rest of the crew. Like Dana, he is green to square-rigged life, learning hi
- [Chips](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/two_years_before_the_mast_se/characters/chips.md): The ship's carpenter on the Pilgrim, a skilled but quiet man.
- [Ben (English Ben)](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/two_years_before_the_mast_se/characters/ben_english_ben.md): An English sailor on the Pilgrim, known for his strength.
- [Jack (of the Lagoda)](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/two_years_before_the_mast_se/characters/jack_lagoda.md): A sailor from the ship Lagoda, met in San Diego.
- [Captain Nye](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/two_years_before_the_mast_se/characters/captain_nye.md): Captain of the Loriotte, a small trading vessel.
- [Captain Job Terry](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/two_years_before_the_mast_se/characters/captain_job_terry.md): Captain of a whaling ship, met in the Pacific.
- [Mr. Bingham](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/two_years_before_the_mast_se/characters/mr_bingham.md): A missionary in the Sandwich Islands, met briefly.
- [Sails](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/two_years_before_the_mast_se/characters/sails.md): The sailmaker on the Pilgrim, an old and experienced hand.
- [Bill Jackson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/two_years_before_the_mast_se/characters/bill_jackson.md): A sailor on the Pilgrim, known for his rough humor.
- [Mr. N⸺](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/two_years_before_the_mast_se/characters/mr_n.md): A passenger on the Pilgrim, a businessman from Boston.
- [Harry Bennett](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/two_years_before_the_mast_se/characters/harry_bennett.md): A young sailor on the Pilgrim, a friend of the narrator.
- [Harry Bluff](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/two_years_before_the_mast_se/characters/harry_bluff.md): A sailor on the Pilgrim, a young and eager crewman.
- [Mr. R⸺](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/two_years_before_the_mast_se/characters/mr_r.md): A passenger on the Pilgrim, a businessman.

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