Carry On, Mr. Bowditch Characters

Lois Bowditch is the youngest of the children belonging to Mother and Father; she is sister to Mary Bowditch, Hab Bowditch, Lizza Bowditch, Nat Bowditch, William Bowditch, and Samuel Bowditch. She is born after the family returns to Salem from Danvers.

Granny is Father’s mother, and grandmother to Mary Bowditch, Hab Bowditch, Lizza Bowditch, Nat Bowditch, William Bowditch, Samuel Bowditch, and Lois Bowditch. She helps to take care of the children after Mother’s death, but she herself dies only a few years later.

Master Watson runs the Salem school that Hab and Nat Bowditch attend. He treats Nat harshly at first, but when he realizes Nat’s aptitude for math, he fosters it and brags about his pupil to other well-educated Salem men, including Dr. Bentley.

Dr. Stearns is an apothecary in Salem. At auction, he buys a treasure trove of scientific books from a British ship seized by American privateers, which he subsequently sells to Dr. Holyoke and the Reverend Dr. Prince. He gives Nat and Lizza Bowditch the news of Tom Perry’s death.

Michael Walsh is the Salem schoolteacher whom Father enlists to give Nat Bowditch a crash course in the arithmetic he needs to become the indentured apprentice bookkeeper of Mr. Ropes’s and Mr. Hodges’s chandlery.

Mr. Samuel Ward is the Salem businessman who buys the chandlery business—including its indentured bookkeeper, Nat Bowditch—from Mr. Ropes and Mr. Hodges.

David Martin is a sailor who marries Mary Bowditch. Although she worries about him, he’s not concerned about the dangers of a life at sea. He and the rest of his crew die of fever while Nat Bowditch is away on his first voyage.

Frederic Jordy is Nathan Read’s apprentice. Along with Read, he teaches Nat Bowditch to read and speak French.

Chad Jensen is an old sailor whom Nat Bowditch knows from his time at the chandlery. Jensen serves under Captain Henry Prince on the Henry, where he becomes a member of Nat’s watch. Later, he serves on the Putnam under Nat himself, alongside his grandson, Corey Jensen.

Mr. Pintard is the American consul at Madeira. Along with his wife, Mrs. Pintard, he invites Captain Henry Prince and Nat Bowditch to dine with him, and he teaches Nat the romantic story of how Madeira’s capital city got its name.

Mrs. Pintard is the wife of the American consul at Madeira, Mr. Pintard.

Mr. Collins’ is Captain Henry Prince’s first mate on the Henry and later on the Astrea.

Tom Owens is a sailor on the Astrea under Captain Henry Prince. Owens becomes responsible for drilling the crew on the ship’s guns after Lem Harvey gets in trouble for attempting to escape. He readily embraces Nat’s navigation lessons.

Captain Riddle is an American sea captain whom Nat meets in Manila.

David Farrel is a Harvard-educated native of Salem who befriends and takes a romantic interest in Elizabeth Boardman while Nat Bowditch is at sea.

Mr. Blunt is the American publisher who prepares an edition of Moore’s navigational tables, which he asks Nat Bowditch to proofread after learning how many errors Nat has spotted in them. When Nat writes his own book on navigation, Mr. Blunt becomes his publisher.

Count Mallevant is a French nobleman who fled to Spain during the French Revolution. When Nat Bowditch sails with the Astrea to ports in the Mediterranean, Mallevant introduces himself to the young man and invites him to use the observatory in Cadiz.

Monsieur Bonnefoy is a Frenchman and native of the Isle of Bourbon (present-day Rèunion) who sails with Captain Henry Prince on the Henry back to his homeland. He advises Nat Bowditch on his very first venture cargo.

Mrs. Boardman is Elizabeth Boardman’s mother and Polly Ingersoll’s aunt. She loses her husband, a sea captain, during one of his voyages to the East Indies. She fully embraces Nat Bowditch as her son-in-law and continues to support him even after Elizabeth’s untimely death.

Charlie Waldo is the cabin boy who replaces Johnny under Captain Henry Prince’s command on the Astrea. Nat Bowditch takes the little boy under his wing when he realizes how homesick Charlie is; in turn, Charlie comforts Nat when he receives word of his wife Elizabeth’s death.

Corey Jensen is the grandson of Chad Jensen. He sails with his grandfather under Nat Bowditch’s command on the Putnam. Corey proves himself to be an inadequate crewman, falling asleep on his watches and panicking when the ship gets stuck in the fog off Salem Harbor.

Tim Yates is a sailor aboard the ship on which Lem Harvey serves as second mate. When that ship sinks, he returns to Salem as the presumed sole survivor. He tells the story of the sinking to Nat Bowditch.

Captain Ingersoll is Polly Ingersoll’s father and becomes Nat Bowditch’s father-in-law.

Captain Gorman is the Salem sailor who brings news of Elizabeth’s death to Nat Bowditch when the Astrea is in Alicante.

Amanda Harvey is Lem Harvey’s wife and Zack Selby’s sister.

Mr. Denny is Nat Bowditch’s first mate on the Putnam.