The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle

Old and weather-worn, Zachariah—his name evokes ancient Biblical prophets and kings with similar names—is the ship’s cook and surgeon. A mentor and advisor to the crew, he also becomes Charlotte’s closest friend onboard. He wants to protect her and their friendship: “Miss Doyle is so young! I am so old! Surely there is something similar in that. And you, the sole girl, and I, the one black, are special on this ship” (24). He becomes a father-figure to Charlotte; his perceptive wisdom helps her understand her situation, her value, and her place in the world. Charlotte believes that her actions lead to Zachariah’s death, and his eventual return is cast as a kind of resurrection.

Captain Andrew Jaggery commands the ship Seahawk with an iron fist. He maimed Cranick, a sailor whose work doesn’t meet his standards, and he shoots him dead when he stows away and leads a mutiny. All he cares about is profit from the voyage, prestige for himself, and maintaining a strict social order. Jaggery befriends Charlotte, hoping that, if she’s on his side, his men won’t mutiny. When Charlotte resists his viciousness, he frames her for murder and finally tries to kill her with his bare hands. Jaggery’s name suggests sharp angles and jagged cruelty; he’s the chief villain of the story, a man whose rage causes tragedies and, ultimately, his own downfall.

A business associate of Charlotte’s father, Mr. Grummage is a somewhat huffy, hurried man with little patience for a young girl filled with questions. Despite the danger, he abandons her without chaperone to a ship that seethes with a dangerous conspiracy. Grummage—his name brings to mind “grumbles” and “grumpy”—is more concerned with keeping to his busy schedule than with making sure Charlotte is protected by responsible adults. His impatient disregard for her safety begins a series of events that put Charlotte in grave danger. 

Second mate Mr. Keetch is a seasoned seaman—his name echoes “ketch,” a type of boat—but is servile toward the captain: “Mr. Keetch when summoned would scuttle quickly to his side, nervous, agitated, that look of fear forever about him, and absorb the captain’s barked orders with a cringing servility” (72). Charlotte instinctively doesn’t like Keetch, and her instincts prove trustworthy when Keetch betrays the men and reports their second mutiny attempt to the captain. His role in the story is as the ultimate betrayer, and his sniveling character makes him an apt assistant to the brutal Jaggery. 

A tough, powerful sailor, Roderick Fisk is “a very large man, lantern-jawed, his fists clenched more often than not as though perpetually prepared to brawl” (78-79). At first, he distrusts Charlotte but softens when she proves sincere, and he champions her when she asks to join the crew. His toughness belies his basic honesty, and at story’s end he assumes command of the Seahawk. 

First mate Mr. Hollybrass relays the captain’s orders to the men. He is “a red-faced man whose slight stoop and powerful broad shoulders conspired to give the impression of perpetual suspicion, an effect heightened by dark, deep-set eyes partially obscured by craggy eyebrows” (28), and accented by a raspy voice. The only crew member who hasn’t sailed before with Jaggery, Hollybrass is careful to obey his every order, including the whipping of Zachariah. During the hurricane, he argues forcefully with the captain, accusing him of sailing deliberately into the storm in a dangerous attempt to save travel time and make more money. An honest and competent first mate, Hollybrass’s sense of fairness gets him killed. His stolid competence represents the norm for the shipping business and contrasts with Jaggery’s showy, dishonest, and ruthless behavior. 

Cranick is the crew member who, on a previous voyage, Jaggery tortured for a minor offense, damaging his arm so severely that it had to be amputated. Cranick stows away on the Seahawk and joins the crew in an attempted mutiny so they can arrest the cruel captain; the mutiny fails when Jaggery shoots Cranick in the chest, killing him. His maiming launches the crewmen on their quest for justice; his killing brings Charlotte to their cause.  

Charlotte writes that the sailors aboard the Seahawk are “as sorry a group of men as I had ever seen: glum in expression, defeated in posture, with no character in any eye save sullenness. They were like men recruited from the doormat of Hell” (29). Disheveled and underfed, they’re the only men the ship can hire after a sailor on a recent voyage got his hand cut off for poor performance. The current crew shared that trip and have signed up again to get revenge on the hated Captain Jaggery. Among them are the young Scotsman Ewing, whose need for a new sewing needle leads Charlotte to discover the round robin plot. Others include Johnson—who’s promoted to second mate—Dillingham, Grimes, Morgan, Barlow, and Foley. Most of these men join both mutinies. Their courage, coupled with their hard work and basic decency, are traits that Charlotte, despite her class bias, comes to admire.