Drago Draft
Description
Dalmatian, somewhere in his late twenties or early thirties. Strong enough for any work aboard and carries it visibly — broad through the shoulders, square-jawed, angular in the face. He has an argumentative expression as a resting state: a set to the jaw and a readiness in the eyes that broadcasts what he is thinking before he opens his mouth. He opens his mouth often.
He has been fighting with the Greek crewmen — Nikos, Giorgos, Spiros — since before La Speranza left Trieste. The antagonism runs along the ordinary lines of men who have made too many voyages together and accumulated too many small resentments. He does not need a reason. He has accumulated enough.
Background
He works the Mediterranean routes. This is not his first difficult voyage and not his first becalming, though this one will be unlike any becalming he has previously survived.
He was among the crew that Nathaniel Holt directed to load the passengers’ supply crates at Trieste — a moment he performed without complaint and has since forgotten.
Personality
He is not a villain. He is scared, and being scared makes him loud, and being loud in his case means identifying a cause and demanding that someone do something about it. During the becalming, that cause is Jasper Endicott’s crate. When the crate fails to serve as a sufficient explanation, the cause becomes Endicott himself.
He is wrong about the solution. He is not wrong that something terrible is happening. His fear is real and his read of the crew’s mood is accurate; he simply has no framework for what the correct response would be.
Motivations
Get through this. Get home. Stop the thing that is happening to them, by whatever means someone will permit.
Connections
- Petar Boskovic — The authority containing him; Petar can hold Drago right up until the becalming makes that untenable
- Jasper Endicott — His designated cause; the man whose crate he wants thrown overboard, then the man himself
- Luka — Fellow Dalmatian aboard; a quieter crewman he works alongside without investment
Appearances
Relationships
- Professional Petar Boskovic — Petar holds authority over him; Drago chafes but does not openly defy the bosun except during the becalming, when fear overrides discipline.
- Antagonistic Jasper Endicott — Drago blames Endicott's crate for the becalming and becomes the loudest voice for throwing it — and eventually Endicott himself — overboard.
- Professional Luka — Fellow Dalmatian; they work together without particular warmth.
- Professional La Speranza — Able seaman; reliable in fair weather, volatile under sustained pressure.