Description
Past fifty and the oldest man aboard, from Chittagong. He steers the night watches with his eyes shut, reading the ship through the tiller — and he is better at it than anyone with their eyes open.
Recognisable at a glance: the only man on deck who is always sitting down.
His image (deploy once): a British petty officer’s silver buckle, given to him forty years ago, which he has polished every day since. He will show it to anyone who asks, and tell the story slightly differently each time.
Background
Forty-odd years in the country trade, most of it on this run — up to Mocha and Jeddah on one monsoon, home to Bengal on the other. He has done it enough times that the passage holds no interest for him and the tiller holds all of it.
Motivations
Getting home. Being asked about the buckle.
As Played — Session 7
He spent the passage sitting outside the passengers’ cabin polishing the buckle, and told a different story about where he got it every single time anyone asked. Won gambling. Taken off a wife’s dead lover. A gift from an Emir. Nobody caught him out and he was never embarrassed.
He went ashore with the casks at Socotra and came back off it. He was not taken.
Connections
Serves under Serang Ismail in the Shah Alam. Bait for Nathaniel Holt — a Navy man and a Navy relic — and a gift for Freddy Cavendish, who is conspicuously good with bores.
Appearances
Relationships
- Located at Shah Alam — Aboard for the Suez → Calcutta passage
- Serves Shah Alam — Steers the night watches; the oldest man aboard
- Serves Serang Ismail
- Owns Silver Navy Buckle — Worn and polished daily for forty years; the story of its origin changes every telling