James Wallace

James Wallace was an English surgeon who assisted Henry Evans aboard the Obra Dinn, during her final voyage in 1802. He was decapitated by the pincers of a giant crab.

Story and fate

Wallace was the assistant of surgeon Henry Evans and was responsible in assisting him in providing medical needs to the crewmen.

He, alongside topman Jie Zhang, was clawed to death by a giant crab when the crab-riders attacked the Obra Dinn.

The East India Company insurance assessment of the Obra Dinn incident finds extraordinary valor in Wallace's actions. His estate is awarded £50 in outstanding wages and reward.^[1]

Identification

Wallace frequently appears looking after the wounded together with Surgeon Henry Evans,^[2] but the two cannot be separated until after A Bitter Cold, part 2. During this scene, both can be seen in the surgery, but Evans is speaking directly to Third Mate Martin Perrott, implying his more senior role as the Surgeon, while Wallace lounges in the background. In the following scene A Bitter Cold, part 3, Evans can be seen and heard giving orders to William Wasim and Abraham Akbar, while Wallace is making the bed in the surgery. He can also be definitively distinguished from Evans once it is known he is dead, since the preface of the book confirms Henry Evans is alive.

Appearances

Wallace mostly appears together with the Surgeon, Henry Evans, whenever someone has been wounded. Chronologically, he first appears in A Bitter Cold, part 2. In the narrative, his first appearance is in the diorama where he dies.

• A Bitter Cold, part 2
• A Bitter Cold, part 3
• Unholy Captives, part 1
• Unholy Captives, part 2
• Unholy Captives, part 4
• Soldiers of the Sea, part 4
• His body can be interacted with in Soldiers of the Sea, part 5
• The Under Way sketch

References