Captain Coffin

Coffin appears at first as a harmless drunk – a comic figure teased by local children. As the story progresses, his dark deeds and his tragic history are both revealed. Coffin takes refuge in drink because he is haunted by a crime he committed in the past. After shooting a preventive officer he fled abroad. He married a religious woman but his wife and child died from smallpox and this tragedy caused his moral decline. After working on a slave trader he is captured by a tribe in Africa. He is given the treasure map by Melhuish on his deathbed. He escapes and meets Aaron Glass. They travel to the island where Coffin tries to kill Glass and then sells him to a press-gang. Years later, Glass catches up with Coffin in Falmouth and kills him.

For more details of Coffin, see the article ‘Three Studies in Evil’ and also ‘Chronology of Evil’.