The Pyrate Chronicles

Captain Björn Gunnarsson, more commonly known to his crew as Captain Ironside, is the captain of the pirate ship Dream Chaser. The thirty-eight year old seaman was born in the port city of Norrköping in Sweden. He is 6’2” tall with penetrating blue eyes, light brown hair, and a short beard. A veteran of the Great Northern War, he started his career in the Swedish Navy at a young age, but his career was cut short by a disaster on board the brig he was commanding, which exploded in 1713 off the coast of Porvoo in Finland through no fault of his own. A cursed crewmember was blamed for the tragedy. Nevertheless, Gunnarsson was discharged by Admiral Erik Johan, his aversion to authority probably not helping his case.

Real name Peter Thurlow, the 35-year-old seaman is the trusted quartermaster of Dream Chaser. The man from Spanish Town in Jamaica is known for his love of rum and beer. He is a personal friend of Blackbeard, whom he idolizes, even going as far as to imitate his appearance by growing a long black beard, which was unusual for the time period.

He is a close friend to Captain Ironside, to whom he is extremely loyal, and although taciturn in nature, he isn’t afraid to speak up when he feels a wrong decision has been made. The youngest son of a Jamaican plantation owner, he joined Dream Chaser looking for adventure after meeting Blackbeard in a tavern in Nassau.

Niamh (pronounced Neeve) O’Malley is a 29-year-old woman from Killadoon in the west of Ireland. She was a pirate long before reaching the Caribbean and joining Dream Chaser’s crew, having served aboard her unsuccessful uncle’s ketch for a year or more. When her uncle’s vessel was captured by a British warship, O’Malley saved herself at great risk by diving into the sea and swimming ashore. On learning that her uncle and his crew had been hanged and that the magistrate was looking to her, she fled Ireland on a ship sailing from Cork, which was heading for Jamaica.

The forty-year-old scholar from London found himself aboard a pirate ship after fleeing England to escape creditors after a failed commercial venture, foolishly losing the money he had obtain through a considerable loan after investing it all in a cargo of indigo from India, which was seized by pirates. Never intending to become a sea rover, but to simply escape the debtors prison, his desire for new experiences and knowledge enabled him to surprisingly fit in with the pirate crew easier than he would have expected, and his medical skills and linguistic abilities made him a welcome addition to the crew, although at times his academic vocabulary could be too much for some of his shipmates.