Tom MORROW

The novel’s protagonist, Tom is a mid-40s geology instructor at U.C. Davis. He was on a path to professorship until an embarrassing UFO flap unraveled that plan. With six months left on his probation, Tom felt reluctant to assist Martín Gallegos in his quest to solve the treasure map mystery at Drakes Bay. But before long, he found himself doing just that--assisting Gallegos.

 

Svetlana TOULSON

“Lana” is a mid-40s woman, a brilliant academic and long-time friend and associate of Tom Morrow. They met as undergrads at UC Berkeley and remained in touch when Tom became a science instructor at UC Davis.  She joins the story when Tom requests Lana’s assistance in translating the chant to “Queen Califia” written on Gallegos’ treasure map. And she remains until the final scene.

 

Martín GALLEGOS

Martín Gallegos is an octogenarian and descendant of an original Californio family who has lived in the Point Reyes Peninsula area for two centuries. A modern-day Don Quixote, Martín inherited a map drawn on a deerskin hide that purportedly shows a treasure site of the Point Reyes headland in Marin County. Martín asks Tom to lend his geologic expertise to help solve the mystery of the map. Tom reluctantly and conditionally accepts the challenge to join the hunt.

 

Mike CARVALHO

Mike Carvalho is Tom’s uncle who has served as a father figure since Mr. Morrow passed away nearly 30 years ago. A contractor in his mid-60s, Mike asked Tom to take a meeting with long-time friend Martín to see if Morrow might lend his geologic expertise to Gallegos’ quest to locate the treasure site referred to on his map of Drakes Bay.

 

Ambrose KIRKOEN

Ambrose “Commodore” Kirkoen is the book’s antagonist, who is dedicated to preventing Tom Morrow from using Gallegos’ map to locate the treasure site. Not for reasons most people would imagine. but specifically to prevent Morrow from ever finding the brass plate left by Francis Drake in 1579 in a location other than Drakes Bay. That could lead to the ruination of the Drake Navigators Guild.

 

Suzie the waitress

Suzie is the strawberry-blonde waitress of the Californio Café. Having waited on Mr. Gallegos for nearly a decade with her country charm, Suzie is privy to the old man’s quest and shares in his game of averting fate by calling the treasure by the nickname “the great white whale.” In Chapter 2, Suzie accepts a payoff to aid the antagonist, but eventually repents for her misdeed.

 

Ricardo CASTAÑEDA

Ricardo Castañeda serves as the novel’s second protagonist. Born in Cadiz in the 16th Century before Spain officially was called a country, Ricardo served in Espana’s naval battle against England, earning the honor, “the Legend of the Lost Armada.” Later he sailed on the San Agustín galleon shipwrecked in the bahia (later named Drakes Bay) in 1595. By chance, Ricardo was marooned when the crew sailed back to Mexico in a small boat.

 

With help from the “spirit” woman “Queen Califia,” she bandaged Castañeda’s leg after a shark bite following Ricardo’s salvage of some goods from the ship. Later, Califia helped him bury the items in the bluffs and draw a map of the bahia on the interior of a deerskin hide to remind him of the burial site location. Ricardo hoped someday to return and excavate the items at some future time. Instead only the map returned to Castaneda’s Californio descendant, Martín Gallegos.

 

Queen Califia

With the chant translated, Tom successfully summons Queen Califia, who materializes before him and Gallegos at Drakes Bay. She reveals Castañeda’s 500-year-old story and offers to help Tom locate the treasure site but not before she has met her many subjects of California. Califia believes Tom is the reincarnation of Ricardo, but eventually comes to understand it is a fallacy.

 

Ahwantahno

The Miwok Indian supports Castañeda as the “gaditano” dwells in the Hookooeko location and lives by the tribelet’s lifestyle in Drakes Bay. Tahno is Ricardo's lifeline in more ways than one.

 

Isabella MIRANDA

A gentle woman of Cadiz, Lady Isabella Miranda is betrothed to Ricardo Castañeda—the Legend of the Lost Armada—and remains faithful all seven years he is absent and feared dead on the San Agustín shipwreck.

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~~ Fini ~~

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