Billy Budd: who's who, timeline and places

Everyone in Billy Budd, what happens when, and where, without spoilers: tell us how far you have read and we show only what you already know.

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Billy BuddBilly Budd is a foretopman whose experience is linked to the year of a major mutiny.First seen in chapter 1
Captain GravelingCaptain Graveling protests Billy’s removal from the merchant crew, where Billy helps settle quarrels.First seen in chapter 2
Lieutenant RatcliffeLieutenant Ratcliffe selects Billy alone from a merchant ship for compulsory naval service.First seen in chapter 2
Captain the Honourable Edward Fairfax VereCaptain Vere commands Billy’s ship, combining concern for his men with strict discipline.First seen in chapter 6
ClaggartClaggart is the master-at-arms, responsible for maintaining order and supported by obedient subordinates.First seen in chapter 8
the DanskerThe Dansker is a veteran sailor whom Billy asks for advice about his troubles.First seen in chapter 9
SqueakSqueak is an agent of Claggart’s harassment of Billy Budd.First seen in chapter 12
the afterguardsmanThe afterguardsman secretly requests Billy’s help among impressed sailors and offers two small objects.First seen in chapter 13
the surgeonThe surgeon confirms Claggart’s death and questions Captain Vere’s judgment about holding a court.First seen in chapter 18
the chaplainThe chaplain visits Billy in confinement but withdraws rather than disturb his peace.First seen in chapter 21
Daniel OrmeDaniel Orme is an aging sailor whose reserve and marked face encourage rumors of piracy.First seen in chapter 28
MerrymuskMerrymusk is a poor woodcutter with a gravely ill family and a magnificent rooster.First seen in chapter 30
John GentianJohn Gentian is a generous Burgundy Club resident whose seniority earns him the name Dean.First seen in chapter 42

Chapter 2
Lieutenant Ratcliffe forcibly recruits Billy from a merchant ship despite Captain Graveling’s protest.
Chapter 3
Billy settles aboard the Indomitable, and the narrator describes his honesty, unknown parentage, and speech defect.
Chapter 6
Captain Vere is introduced as a commander who combines care for his men with strict discipline.
Chapter 8
Claggart is introduced as the master-at-arms, with authority over sailors and an uncertain past.
Chapter 9
Billy asks the Dansker about his troubles and receives a warning that the master-at-arms is hostile.
Chapter 13
An afterguardsman secretly asks Billy for help among impressed sailors, but Billy angrily refuses.
Chapter 17
Claggart accuses Billy of encouraging unrest, and Vere orders a private confrontation.
Chapter 18
Unable to answer Claggart’s accusation, Billy strikes him dead, and Vere orders a summary court.
Chapter 19
The court sentences Billy to hang after Vere insists that military law requires punishment.
Chapter 23
Billy blesses Captain Vere before his hanging, and the assembled crew repeats his words.
Chapter 25
The Indomitable captures the Athéiste, but Vere receives a fatal wound and later dies ashore.
Chapter 27
Sailors preserve Billy’s memory through the hanging spar and a ballad composed by a watchmate.
Chapter 28
Daniel Orme’s solitary death leaves his past unresolved after lodgers treat his bodily marks as evidence of evil.
Chapter 29
A Virginian reads Hawthorne in rural Vermont and argues for recognition of his genius and American literary independence.
Chapter 30
A troubled narrator gains courage from a rooster, then buries it with Merrymusk and his family.
Chapter 31
After exclusion from a church, a poor narrator finds hospitality and fellowship at a London theatre.
Chapter 33
An elderly uncle destroys his failed drainage machine, then abandons his hunger for fame and embraces kindness.
Chapter 35
A narrator contrasts a comfortable bachelor dinner in London with exhausted unmarried workers in a New England paper mill.
Chapter 36
William Ford recalls Jimmy Rose’s generosity, financial ruin, and humiliating dependence on former guests.
Chapter 39
Two insects emerge from an old table, prompting both a natural explanation and Julia’s hopeful religious interpretation.
Chapter 40
My Lord receives verses inspired by an amber vase, and their treatment of death troubles him.
Chapter 42
The narrator defends John Gentian’s informal manners and explains his inherited Revolutionary decoration.
Chapter 47
A speaker questions whether extraordinary people can disappear without a lasting intellectual legacy.
Chapter 49
A narrator abandons Greek studies, follows a mysterious invitation, and kneels before a richly dressed woman.
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