These are all really good points. Yeah, the sisters aren't mentioned that often. I do remember that one bit in Commodore where Bush has the blood lust and wants to hang that poor bastard before he actually dies, and HH is all freaky about it. In that section somewhere HH says that Bush is a kind man, who is a good brother to his sisters and a good son to his mother. But outside of there and LtH I'm drawing a blank.

The age thing is interesting. For all we know he could be the youngest child in the whole load of them.

We don't get hide or hair or mention of them during all the time we spend in his head in LtH while we're at sea. We only hear about them when he's back on shore.

POINT. And if we would see it anywhere it should be in LtH. If you figure he left as a teenage boy and spends years and years and years away from home, these people have to be strangers to him. Easy to put them out of your mind I would imagine especially when there are better things to think about like beautiful ships and pretty captains.

And dude, I'm obsessed now with Chichester and I'm digging out all sorts of shit about the place including some period paintings of the main part of town. And I found some maps that ain't worth much because you can't read the streets but I'm hoarding it all.

But Chichester in the 18th century? SMUGGLING. All over the place.