Laggart
The lanky, bald first officer of the Crow's Song and her cannonmaster. He wears a sword and a brace of pistols, and is the one who informs Tress she has been put on a third watch that will never actually be called. STD:Tress:Ch 12
Known facts
- hides-rigged-cannonballsThe Crow's Song's cannonmaster keeps a cache of three or four rigged cannonballs in a false-bottomed compartment of the spore-barrel by his cannon — the same compartment style smugglers use, with a hidden latch by the banding. The hidden balls are not the quartermaster-inspected type designed to snare a ship with vines; they are made to sink one.STD:Tress:Ch 16
- confirms-hidden-cannonball-cacheTress watches Laggart stash a fist-sized rigged cannonball from his pack into the false-bottom compartment of the cannon's spore-barrel — confirming that he, not the Dougs, is the one who keeps the hidden cache of ship-sinkers near the forecannon.STD:Tress:Ch 18
- cannonballs-rigged-to-sinkFort cracks open the cannonball Tress lifted from a hidden compartment in one of Laggart's gunnery barrels and shows the cabal what is inside: not the standard zephyr burster charge with its delayed water-spray fuse, but wadded cloth packed around a hollow of water and lead shot. The ammunition has been rigged to sink ships outright rather than disable them for boarding, which means the cannonmaster has been firing under Crow's orders to make the Song's crew deadrunners on purpose.STD:Tress:Ch 31
- does-not-know-of-tress-sale-to-dragonWhile giving Tress cannon training on the aft platform, Laggart makes plain that he does not know Crow intends to sell her to the dragon; he wants a second crew member on board who can handle zephyr in case he is wounded. Tress concludes he is being kept ignorant because the captain is keeping him in reserve as a backup offering — he is one of the few crew uncowed enough by spores to be tradeable for boons.STD:Tress:Ch 37
- shoots-salay-in-the-thigh-to-prove-a-pointCornering the conspirators in Fort's office under orders to bring all four to the captain, Laggart proves he means his pistol by turning it on Salay and shooting her through the thigh — a deliberate demonstration that Crow specified only Tress be brought up alive.STD:Tress:Ch 49
- broken-by-tress-genuine-kindness-flees-cabinConvinced Tress is only being kind in order to lull him before some inevitable execution, Laggart confronts her in the captain's cabin and demands she shoot him. When she refuses, offers the brig instead, and tells him plainly that she was never going to kill him — that she did not even kill Crow — he realizes for the first time that there are people who actually mean what they say. Horrified rather than relieved, he flees the cabin.STD:Tress:Ch 54
- spots-for-annStepped up behind Ann uninvited on the deck of the Crow's Song and spotted for her against the Sorceress's metal men — calling degree corrections in a calm voice until she found her own rhythm — and named her Assistant Cannonmaster on the shot.STD:Tress:Ch 62
Events
- STD:Tress:Ch 12 Intercepts Tress on her way to the mess to explain — with a smile — that she has been put on a third watch that will not be called.
- STD:Tress:Ch 16 Off-page but present on deck; the false-bottom compartment in his cannon's spore-barrel is the chapter's central discovery.
- STD:Tress:Ch 18 Sweeps over to praise the Dougs for Tress's work, then makes a show of cleaning his cannon himself so he can slip a rigged cannonball out of his pack and into the barrel's hidden compartment, before vanishing into Crow's cabin for a closed-door conference.
- STD:Tress:Ch 19 Emerges from Crow's cabin with her and struts off to the bow as she goes up to the quarterdeck.
- STD:Tress:Ch 20 Calls the afternoon watch to dinner while the stilling holds; later set on the night watch over Tress in port, where he clomps loudly off to the privy at midnight to give her her chance to slip away.
- STD:Tress:Ch 22 Sets the new sprouter her standing order — forty pouches of zephyr charges to be kept ready in the gunnery barrel — without realising the count gives Tress an unsupervised excuse to take the barrel apart and reach the false bottom underneath.
- STD:Tress:Ch 24 Cranks the forward cannon into line, adjusts the barrel inch by careful inch, sets off the zephyr charge — and watches in private fury as his rigged "warning shot" delivers nothing but a soaked flank and a held prize. He curses softly; his face goes the colour of iron coming out of a forge.
- STD:Tress:Ch 25 Mutters professional admiration for the enemy cannoneer — a damn fine first shot — and then revises it a moment later, after Crow drops the man, to past tense.
- STD:Tress:Ch 26 Implicit on the upper deck: his cannon-shot has gone off in a burst of vines across the prey ship's aft instead of the planned sinking — the second of Tress's sabotaged shots in a row, and the reason the merchant crew is alive to surrender at all.
- STD:Tress:Ch 34 Saunters up to Tress on deck as the Song reaches port, taps her on the shoulder, and points her wordlessly toward the captain's cabin.
- STD:Tress:Ch 37 Hurries down from the quarterdeck when Crow slams into her cabin, then collars Tress and drags her up onto the aft platform for a peremptory cannon lesson before walking off and telling her to take five shots a day and not to bother him.
- STD:Tress:Ch 43 Approves Tress's pretext for going down to the empty cargo hold — inspecting Ann's roseite hull patch to understand it for the future — and promises to keep anyone else from bothering her. The exchange is so unusually pleasant that she briefly wonders whether something is wrong with him.
- STD:Tress:Ch 47 Tress shoves past him on the steps as she runs for her cabin. He bellows after her; she does not stop.
- STD:Tress:Ch 49 Levels a pistol at Tress outside Fort's office, then turns it on Salay and shoots her through the thigh to prove he has Crow's permission. Marches the four mutineers to the deck and takes up a sniper's position on the quarterdeck during the duel; later, after refusing Crow's order to stand as Ann's target, holds a pistol on Ann while Tress is rowed away.
- STD:Tress:Ch 52 Stands watch at the ship's rail when Tress emerges alone from the dragon's spore tunnel; levels his pistol at her until his common sense catches up, then lowers it and backs away.
- STD:Tress:Ch 54 Pounds on the captain's cabin door demanding to speak privately, then demands that Tress shoot him for what he has done. When she refuses and offers the brig instead, he chews on her plain statement that she was never going to kill him until the kindness breaks him, then stumbles out and flees.
- STD:Tress:Ch 57 Hovers at the back of the group of officers, visibly concerned by the captain's plan to row into the Midnight Sea alone.
- STD:Tress:Ch 61 The only voice against the rescue at the emergency meeting; gets outvoted.
- STD:Tress:Ch 62 Steps up behind Ann at the cannon, hand on the forestay, and spots calmly for her — *three degrees aft and one up; hold; FIRE* — until she finds her own corrections and her own *fire,* then names her Assistant Cannonmaster on the spot.
Backreferences
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 12
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 14
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 15
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 16
- factAnn
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 17
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 18
- factThe Crow's Song
- factCaptain Crow
- factLaggart
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 19
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 20
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 22
- factTress
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 24
- factTress
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 25
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 26
- factTress
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 29
- factTress
- factSalay
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 30
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 31
- factLaggart
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 34
- factCaptain Crow
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 37
- factTress
- factLaggart
- factAnn
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 43
- factTress
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 47
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 48
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 49
- factCaptain Crow
- factLaggart
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 52
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 54
- factTress
- factLaggart
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 57
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 61
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 62
- factAnn
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 63