Main characters • Daniel Waterhouse, an English
natural philosopher and
Dissenter •
Jack Shaftoe, an illiterate adventurer of great resourcefulness and charisma • Eliza, a girl abducted into slavery, and later freed, who becomes a spy and a
financier • Enoch Root, a mysterious and ageless man who also appears in
Cryptonomicon, set in
World War II and the 1990s. He also appears in
Fall; or, Dodge in Hell. • Bob Shaftoe, a soldier in the service of
John Churchill, and brother of Jack Shaftoe
Minor characters • Louis Anglesey, Earl of Upnor, best swordsman in England • Thomas More Anglesey, Cavalier, Duke of Gunfleet • Duc d'Arcachon, French admiral who dabbles in slavery • Etienne d'Arcachon, son of the duke; most polite man in France • Henri Arlanc,
Huguenot, friend of Jack Shaftoe. • Henry Arlanc, Son of Henri Arlanc, porter of the
Royal Society • Mrs. Arlanc, wife of Henry • Gomer Bolstrood, dissident agitator, future legendary furniture maker • Clarke, English alchemist, boards young Isaac Newton • Charles Comstock, son of John Comstock • John Comstock, Earl of Epsom and Lord Chancellor • Roger Comstock, Marquis of Ravenscar, Whig Patron of Daniel Waterhouse • Will Comstock, Earl of Lostwithiel • Moseh de la Cruz, galley slave, Spanish Jew • Dappa, Nigerian linguist aboard
Minerva • Vrej Esphanian, galley slave, Armenian Trader • Mr. Foot, galley slave, erstwhile bar-owner from Dunkirk • Édouard de Gex, Jesuit fanatic, court priest at Versailles • Gabriel Goto, galley slave, Jesuit priest from Japan • Lothar von Hacklheber, German banker obsessed with alchemy • Thomas Ham, of Ham Bros Goldsmiths, half-brother-in-law of Daniel Waterhouse • Otto van Hoek, galley slave, Captain of the
Minerva • Jeronimo, galley slave, a high-born
Spaniard with
Tourette's syndrome • Mr. Kikin, Russian diplomat in London • Nyazi, galley slave, camel-trader of the Upper Nile • Norman Orney, London shipbuilder and Dissenter • Danny Shaftoe, son of
Jack Shaftoe • Jimmy Shaftoe, son of Jack Shaftoe • Mr. Sluys, Dutch merchant and traitor • Mr. Threader,
Tory money-scrivener • Drake Waterhouse, Puritan father of Daniel Waterhouse • Faith Waterhouse, wife of Daniel Waterhouse • Godfrey Waterhouse, son of Daniel Waterhouse • Mayflower Waterhouse, half-sister of Daniel Waterhouse, wife of Thomas Ham • Raleigh Waterhouse, half-brother of Daniel Waterhouse • Sterling Waterhouse, half-brother of Daniel Waterhouse • Charles White, Tory, Captain of the King's Messengers, who has the habit of biting off people's ears • Yevgeny the
Raskolnik, Russian heretic, whaler and anti-tsarist rebel • Peter Hoxton (Saturn), horologist • Colonel Barnes, peg-legged commander of dragoons • Queen Kottakkal, sovereign of the
Malabar pirates • Teague Partry, distant relative of the Shaftoes in Connaught, Ireland
Historical figures who appear as characters •
Jean Bart •
Catherine Barton •
Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke •
Robert Boyle •
Henrietta Braithwaite, mistress of George II •
Caroline of Ansbach •
Charles II of England •
John Churchill, later 1st Duke of Marlborough •
Sir William Curtius, Baron Curtius of Sweden •
D'Artagnan •
Nicolas Fatio de Duillier •
John Flamsteed •
Benjamin Franklin (as a young boy) •
Eleanor Erdmuthe Louise, widow of
John Frederick •
Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatine •
George I of Great Britain •
George II of Great Britain, the Prince of Wales •
Nell Gwyn •
George Frideric Handel •
Robert Hooke •
Christiaan Huygens •
James Stuart, Duke of York, then James VII and II •
George Jeffreys •
Johann Georg IV, Elector of Saxony •
Arnold Joost van Keppel •
Jack Ketch •
Gottfried Leibniz •
Louis XIV of France •
Mary II of England •
Thomas Newcomen •
Isaac Newton •
Henry Oldenburg •
William Penn •
Samuel Pepys •
Peter the Great traveling incognito as Peter Romanov •
Bonaventure Rossignol, a French cryptanalyst •
James Scott, Duke of Monmouth •
John III Sobieski, King of Poland •
Sophia of Hanover •
Sophia Charlotte of Hanover •
Edward "Blackbeard" Teach •
Elizabeth Villiers •
John Wilkins •
William III of England, Prince of Orange •
Christopher Wren •
John Locke •
John Keill •
Ignatius Sancho's life as a freed slave in 18th century London, letters as an abolitionist, and life under the protection of a Duchess bear a strong similarity to the character of Dappa ==Critical response==