The Adventures of Roderick Random

Arriving at the Navy Office

The narrator enters the Navy Office, where he sees crowds of young men, many with similarly modest appearances to his own. He approaches a young man whose countenance he likes and asks for guidance on the correct format for the letter required to request an examination order from the Navy Board.

Meeting the Scottish Clerk

The young man, who speaks broad Scots, shows the narrator a copy of a letter he wrote for himself to submit to the Board, created per guidance from someone familiar with the required form. He tells the narrator that if he is quick, he can submit his letter to the Board before it breaks for the day, as the Board does not conduct business in the afternoons.

Writing to the Board

The Scottish clerk accompanies the narrator to a nearby coffee house, where the narrator writes the required letter. He delivers the letter to the Board’s messenger, who informs him he can expect an official order in response by the same time the following day.

The Character of Bean Jackson

After completing his business at the Navy Office, the narrator thanks the Scottish clerk (identified as Thompson) for his help and agrees to dine with him at the cook’s shop the narrator regularly frequents. On their way to the meal, they stop at the Royal Exchange, where the narrator fails to find Jackson. He shares details of Jackson’s broken appointment with Thompson, who reveals Jackson’s reputation at the Navy Office, where he is nicknamed “Bean Jackson”: he is known as a good-natured but careless man who borrows freely from anyone willing to lend, with most acquaintances believing he has good core intentions but is so extravagant he will likely never be able to prove his honesty. Thompson also discloses that Jackson took out a predatory loan to fund his naval equipment, signing a will that grants the lender access to his wages and inheritance if he dies, with 50% interest on small advances, and his credit is now nearly exhausted. The narrator worries about recovering the five shillings he lent Jackson, but does not give up hope of doing so.