Name: John Kimball
Gender: Male
Age: 37
Faction: None
Deity: Episcopalian (That means essentially agnostic, with better tailoring and a good taste in alcohol.)
Skills: Navigation, Ship-handling, Gunnery. It should also be noted that he is cold-blooded under fire and if he was brave before, now he simply doesn't give a damn about his life anymore. He's a gentleman and knows how to handle a sword and pistol.

Background: Born to a family of flinty New Englanders, of Mayflower descent, John Kimball hails from Newbury, Massachusetts. During the War of Independence he was a tyke, but he grew up with stories of his brother's heroism, real or imagined. Edward Kimball never came back, but John Kimball, the babe of the family, nonetheless followed his brother's footsteps toward the sea. In the years that followed Yorktown, John started as an apprentice and was soon commissioned in the United States Navy as a navigator, a gunnery officer and finally a first mate aboard the USS Philadelphia when it sailed to Tripoli in 1804 to fight the First Barbary War.

Regrettably, the Philadelphia, through a gross mishandling, was run aground and turned into a prize of the Pasha of Tripoli, and the captain, William Bainbridge, elected to surrender to the Pasha, but not before ordering his own First Mate detained for trying to set fire to the powder stores on the Philadelphia rather than let it fall -- Kimball was intent on going down with the ship, whereas others felt that it was best not to antagonize the Pasha by denying him this sudden windfall of a powerful frigate.

Instead, they became hostages of the Pasha, and it was Stephen Decatur who bravely set flame to the Philadelphia to ensure that the prize would not be taken. Months later, when the Marines landed at Tripoli and forced an end to the war, the crew of the Philadelphia was released, and an inquiry was held as to assign responsibility -- William Bainbridge managed to squeak past being held accountable. John Kimball, who attracted the ire of his captain during the course of the captivity in Tripoli, was not so lucky and inherited the blame.

Kimball sailed with merchant crews for a time to make ends meet, though he found that the pleasures of ports like New Orleans had far too many opportunities to squander the profit and his family, out of embarrassment, have essentially disowned him. At this nadir of his life, no one seems desperate enough to hire a ruined naval officer and take a risk on the dubious reputation of a man that seems to live up to it with his wanton ways and taste for drink...