Jack Aubrey: Captain of the letter of marque Surprise ; MP; he is restored to the Navy List and appointed captain of HMS Diane because he is needed for the mission.
Stephen Maturin: Ship's surgeon, natural philosopher, friend to Jack and an intelligence officer. Aboard HMS Diane , he sails as the Captain's guest, then acts as surgeon, allowing him to mess with the gunroom.
Sophia Aubrey: Jack's wife and mother of their three children.
Mrs Williams: Mother to Sophia and aunt to Diana; poverty and old age are softening her spleen.
Diana Villiers: First cousin to Sophia, and Stephen's wife who is now with child.
Tom Smith: Banker to whom Aubrey is shifting some of his funds, and brother to Henry, captain of HMS Revenge and Edward, captain of HMS Tremendous .
The unknown: The man in a high government position who aided Ledward and Wray, who is not yet identified by Sir Joseph Blaine; his existence is clear by his exercise of power by gossip against Aubrey ashore while Surprise is fitting out, and informing Spain of Surprise's mission.
Padeen Colman: Irishman, once servant to Maturin, who ran from Surprise while Maturin was injured ( The Letter of Marque ) to steal laudanum, to which he was addicted. Aubrey intervenes as an MP to alter the sentence of death to that of transportation to Botany Bay.
Sam Panda: Natural son of Aubrey; Maturin speaks with the Patriarch of Lisbon in his favor and he writes from Brazil that he is ordained.
Lord Melville: First Lord of the Admiralty.
Sir Joseph Blaine: Head of Intelligence at the Admiralty, entomologist and good friend to Maturin.
Aboard Surprise
Captain Tom Pullings: a volunteer and First Lieutenant on the Surprise , who later takes over as captain for the South American mission.
Barret Bonden: Coxswain to Aubrey since his first command, who follows Aubrey to HMS Diane .
Preserved Killick: Steward cum butler to Aubrey, also aids Maturin, who follows Aubrey to HMS Diane .
Mr Nathaniel Martin: Unbeneficed clergyman and natural philosopher; surgeon's mate to Maturin aboard Surprise
Mr Standish: Purser new to the sea and new to the Surprise , violin player and a friend of Martin from Oxford university days. Seasickness overwhelms him, so he leaves the ship in Santiago to become Col. Lumley's secretary.
Orkney men: Group of seamen picked up sailing back from the Baltic Sea aboard Surprise , who do not yet meld with the rest of the ship’s crew. They have a unique cadence to their singing.
Awkward Davies: able seaman aboard Surprise ; a brute of a man whom Aubrey saved from drowning often.
Robert Gough: Member of the United Irishmen, known to Maturin but differing in some key views. Maturin sees him aboard a snow which the Surprise chases in the Irish Sea. The snow is abandoned, to Maturin's relief, as Gough would be hanged if taken.
Aboard HMS Diane
Edward Fox: Foreign Office envoy to Pulo Prabang, carried on HMS Diane , always insistent on his privileges.
Mr David Edwards: Fox's secretary, a man of pleasant personality.
Loder: Member of Fox's retinue.
Johnstone: A Judge and a member of Fox's retinue.
Mr James Fielding: First Lieutenant aboard HMS Diane , who has long sea experience but none in battle.
Mr Bampfylde Elliott: Second Lieutenant aboard HMS Diane . This voyage is his first sea service as an officer. Aubrey judges him "no seaman" but likes the young man. He volunteers to captain the pinnace when Fox insists on sailing to Java with the treaty.
Dick Richardson: Third Lieutenant in the Diane , selected by Aubrey (called Spotted Dick as midshipman when introduced in The Mauritius Command aboard HMS Boadicea ).
Graham: Surgeon aboard HMS Diane , who is left behind when ship is windbound in Plymouth, not responding to the blue peter.
Macmillan: Surgeon's mate, who took Graham's place despite his three months at sea, taking advice from Maturin.
William Reade: Midshipman on HMS Diane , one of the two youngest in midshipman's berth.
Fleming: Midshipman and son of an eminent natural philosopher and member of the Royal Society.
Clerke: Midshipman.
Greene: Midshipman.
Harper: Midshipman on HMS Diane , other of the two youngest in midshipman's berth.
Seymour: Masters mate, planning to take examination for lieutenant, one of two eldest in midshipman's berth.
Bennett: Masters mate, also readying for the examination, other of the eldest pair in midshipman's berth.
Elijah Butcher: Captain's clerk, who aids Aubrey in his regular records for Humboldt of the temperature and salinity of the sea on this voyage.
Welby: Lieutenant of the Marines on HMS Diane .
Hadley: Carpenter on HMS Diane .
Ahmed: Malay servant to Maturin who aids him in learning the language during the voyage.
In Pulo Prabang or Java
Duplessis: The French envoy in Pulo Prabang.
Edward Ledward, once of the Treasury and Andrew Wray, once of the Admiralty (introduced in Desolation Island ): Two English traitors and both active enemies to Aubrey and Maturin; part of the French delegation.
Stamford Raffles: Governor of Java, residing at Buitenzorg.
Sultan of Pulo Prabang: Ruler sought as an ally by Fox, for Britain, and Duplessis, for France.
Sultana Hafsa: Wife of the Sultan, who is with child, and is of a powerful and jealous family.
Abdul: Attractive boy who is a lover to the Sultan, and also to Ledward and Wray, his downfall.
Cornelius van Buren: Well known biologist and anatomist with a special interest in the spleen, who lives at Pulo Batang, despite the Dutch having lost the lands. He married here, and keeps up a lively correspondence with natural philosophers in Europe and is a good colleague to Maturin.
Lesueur: Clerk for the French who becomes a contact for Maturin, until the French uncover the dual role and kill Lesueur.
Ananda: Buddhist monk at Kumai crater who offered food to Maturin, and had hand raised the orangutan named Muong.
Pierrot Dumesnil: Lieutenant of the French ship Cornélie ; nephew of Christy-Pallière, both first met by Aubrey in Master and Commander .
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