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‘The repossession of Buenos Aires has been stained with such deliberate acts of treachery and perfidy as are not to be instanced in the annals of history’
Commodore Sir Home Riggs Popham,
HMS Diadem, Rio de la Plata, 1806
Dramatis Personae
(* Indicates fictitious character)
*Thomas Kydd, captain of L’Aurore
*Nicholas Renzi, his friend and confidential secretary
L’Aurore, ship’s company
*Gilbey, first lieutenant
*Curzon, second lieutenant
*Bowden, third lieutenant
*Clinton, lieutenant of marines
*Owen, purser
*Oakley, boatswain
*Kendall, sailing master
*Searle, boy volunteer
*Dodd, marine sergeant
*Poulden, coxswain
*Stirk, gunner’s mate
*Collas, carpenter’s mate
*Legge, carpenter
*Doud, seaman
*Pearse, master’s mate
*Cumby, boatswain’s mate
*Wong, seaman
*Saxton, signal master’s mate
*Tysoe, Kydd’s valet
*Calloway, midshipman
Officers, other ships
Commodore Home Popham
Lieutenant Davies, Diadem
Captain Downman, Diadem
Captain Byng, Belliqueux
Captain Honyman, Leda
Captain Donnelly, Narcissus
Captain Audley, Ocean
Lieutenant Godwin, Encounter
*Lieutenant Garrick, Dolores
*Lieutenant Selby, Staunch
*Acting Lieutenant Hellard, Stalwart
Army
Captain Arbuthnot
Erskine, aide
General Lord Beresford
Major General Sir David Baird
Colonel Pack
Others
*Beekman, midshipman
*Bolt, petty officer
*Dougal, master’s mate, Stalwart
*Ribeiro, Portuguese trader
*Geens, pest control
*Cuthbert Richardson, cocoa planter
*Ditler, ivory trader
*Scholes, passenger
Captain Waine, Elizabeth
*Hardiman, Justina
*Maycock, supercargo, Justina
Jed Russell, a.k.a. Crujido, senior pilot for the viceroyalty
Lord Grenville, prime minister
Charles Sidmouth, Lord Privy Seal
Charles Fox, foreign secretary
Viscount Howick, first lord of the Admiralty
Patton, governor of St Helena
Buenos Aires
His Excellency the Governor of Truxillo
The Virrey Diputado Quintana, deputy viceroy
*Don Baltasar, Hidalgo de Terrada, paramount leader of patriots
*Manuel Bustamente, patriot deputy
Martin Miguel de Guemes, cadet-lieutenant in Spanish Army
*Barreda, Popham’s envoy
*Rodriquez Corazon, merchant and host at Kydd’s billet
*Dona Rafaela Callejo, lover of Vicente Serrano
Rafael de Sobramonte, viceroy over the viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata
Martin de Alzaga, wealthy merchant
Don Santiago Liniers, military leader
Colonel General Pueyrredon, commander of the gauchos
*Charcas, Hidalgo de Sarmiento, lieutenant and emissary of Pueyrredon
*Manuel Galvis, peon
*Vicente Serrano, artist and exiled student