Chicken Dyer

Chicken Dyer is an Able Seaman aboard HMS Terpsichore. He is an NPC.

Details
Not much is known for certain about Dyer. He is listed in the ship's books as John Dyer but this is only because the signing officer in his first ship refused to accept 'Chicken' as Dyer's forename. Only Dyer himself knows what his Christian name truly is but this is one of many things he'll never tell.

He was taken by a press gang in the winter of 1796, not long before the Great Mutinies, but he declared himself a volunteer in order to receive the volunteer's bounty. Before becoming a sailor, Dyer made his living dishonestly (he once mentioned being a roost-lay, or poultry thief, but the truth of this claim is doubtful), a fact evident by his fluency in the thieves' cant, which he's spoken to only a few people since entering the Navy. He doesn't want to attract the wrong sort of attention from officers for such linguistic knowledge, after all.

Before Terpsichore, Dyer served in a number of ships:

HMS Theseus 74, 1797 (Nile)

HMS Ajax 74, 1798 to 1801 (Egypt, Alexandria)

HMS Powerful 74, 1802 to 1807 (Med, East Indies Squadron, Bellone capture)

HM Sloop Kingfisher 18, 1807 to 1808 (Med)

Dyer's best friend aboard Terpsichore is Jacob Chase. The two topmen have a knack for getting into mischief, both innocent and otherwise.