Description
Forty-ish, Arab, shipped at Mocha. One iron pot, absolute tyranny over the galley, and coffee that is genuinely extraordinary.
Recognisable at a glance: the sound of him. He sings while he works — low, continuous, unselfconscious, and audible through the deck.
His image (deploy once): he charges the passengers for the good coffee and gives it free to the crew, and he is entirely unembarrassed when this is pointed out to him.
Background
Came aboard at Mocha some seasons ago and stayed. He is not part of Ismail’s Bengal gang and does not pretend to be; the galley is a country of its own and he governs it.
Motivations
The galley, run his way. Coffee, made properly. Being paid for the first and not questioned on the second.
As Played — Session 7
He sang low and continuously in the galley for the whole of the passage, and produced a heavily spiced stew that the party found — against every expectation any of them had formed on looking at the galley — genuinely good.
He went ashore with the casks at Socotra and came back off it. He was not taken.
Connections
Crew of the Shah Alam. His singing puts him unknowingly across Emma Wentworth’s path every day of the passage.
Appearances
Relationships
- Located at Shah Alam — Aboard for the Suez → Calcutta passage
- Serves Shah Alam — Absolute tyranny over the galley