CAPTAIN DACK

Captain James Dack is a massive, brawling sailor who often strays beyond the limits of the law. His significant others are: Sam Tench (his first officer), Scotty (his engineer), and Abe Gunson (a wharf owner).

Captain Dack was created by John Hunter (Peter Meriton).

James Dack is the captain of a dirty old cargo ship named Mary Ann Trinder. He's a huge man, tall and broad, with "a heavy square face lit up by eyes in which saturnine laughter and considerable cunning shared the honours." He has giant hands attached to monstrous wrists, and a voice that has shouted down hurricanes.

Dack is essentially a decent man but an utter scoundrel. He regards the law as advisory rather than compulsory and is not averse to breaking it if, by doing so, he can make a tidy profit.

His first officer is Sam Tench, a short and thickset man whose features are frequently referred to as being "horrible." Dack first met him during the war when commanding a mine clearing vessel. Together they'd fought and beaten a submarine twice the size of their ship and had been inseparable ever since.

Abe Gunson manages a wharf in London at which the Mary Ann Trinder frequently docks. He often puts work Dack's way.

Chronology

Pre-Sexton Blake Encounters

1. £500,000 Ransom (THE THRILLER, April 15 1933)

2. The Voyage of Terror (THE THRILLER, December 29 1934)

3. The Secret of the Graveyard (THE THRILLER, June 15 1935)

With Sexton Blake

4. Crook Cargo (THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 2nd series, issue 549, 1936)
A crooked financier, Danby Clayton, pays a vagrant to masquerade as him to cover for the fact that Clayton is preparing to flee with his company's securities. He hires Captain Dack to ship him and a cargo of illicitly gained antiques to America. Dack, suspicious, investigates, as does Tinker. Both fall foul of a gangster named Sarsen who's tumbled to Clayton's game. When the Mary Ann Trinder leaves port, Sarsen and his men commit an act of piracy and redirect the vessel to Scotland. Tinker, though, has stowed away. He and Dack join forces and regain control of the ship. Clayton tries to flee but is drowned. Sexton Blake arrives in a flying boat to clean up the mess. Dack receives a hefty reward for returning the stolen antiques.

5. The Prisoner of Lost Island (THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 2nd series, issue 578, 1937)
While Sexton Blake is asked to locate a man's missing sister, Captain Dack is commissioned to transport the woman's ward and husband to a remote island off the Scottish coast. Blake gradually uncovers a trail of betrayals and murders, involving four crooks and fifty thousand pounds. While the detective exposes the crimes, Dack becomes suspicious of his client and steps in at the nick of time to prevent the killing of an innocent girl.

6. The Crime On the Promenade (THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 2nd series, issue 585, 1937)

7. The Secret of the Hold (THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 2nd series, issue 614, 1938)

8. (Non-Sexton Blake) Captain Dack (NOVEL 1939)

9. The Riddle of the Lost Ship (THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 2nd series, issue 662, 1939)

10. Raiders Passed (THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 3rd series, issue 1, 1941)
A gift of gold has been sent to Binali in East African but George Randall, the diplomat who was set to follow, has disappeared. A man named Prendergast commissions Captain Dack to take him to Binali. Dack soon finds that he has a stowaway aboard — Tinker! The lad warns the captain that he's got himself involved with a villainous gang. The Mary Ann Trinder is attacked by a U-boat but manages to sink it. Four survivors are taken aboard. Prendergast conspires with them and hijacks Dack's ship. Upon arrival in Binali, they then attempt to steal the gold. Dack foils their scheme and secretly lays claim to some of the gold. Sexton Blake arrives just in time to see everything cleaned up.

11. The Case of the French Raiders (THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 3rd series, issue 15, 1942)

12. The Mystery of the American Envoy (THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 3rd series, issue 35, 1942)
The Mary Ann Trinder is damaged during a Luftwaffe attack. When it reaches port, Captain Dack discovers a headless corpse onboard. Sexton Blake agrees to investigate. A girl, Joyce Aldred, contacts Dack and it quickly emerges that her guardian is trying to have her killed. However, the assassins he hired are trying to double cross him. They have located the girl's real father who agrees to pay them £20,000 in return for being reunited with her. Blake and Dack interfere with the plan and, when the father and daughter are reunited, the terms have changed. The various criminals are exposed and they receive the death sentence.

13. (Non-Sexton Blake) Conspiracy (NOVEL 1948)

14. (Non-Sexton Blake) Plunder (NOVEL 1948)

15. Witness to the Crime (THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 3rd series, issue 210, 1950)

16. The Case of the Crooked Skipper (THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 3rd series, issue 249, 1951)

17. The Thieves of Alexandria (THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 3rd series, issue 301, 1953)

18. (Non-Sexton Blake) Meet Captain Dack (SUPER DETECTIVE LIBRARY issue 43, 1954)

19. (Non-Sexton Blake) The Man Who Made Gold (SUPER DETECTIVE LIBRARY issue 46, 1955)

20. (Non-Sexton Blake) Captain Dack and the Mystery of Peril Island (SUPER DETECTIVE LIBRARY issue 55, 1955)