Captain

"Pitiful dregs, this lot. And there out t' become Hunters? What a laugh!"

- The Captain speaking of the sea sick passengers in Volume 1

The unnamed Captain (船長, Senchō) is the head of the ship which transports the main protagonists to the mainland where the 287th Hunter Examination is being held—Dolle Harbor.

Background
The Captain has taken part in the Hunter Exam and commanded a ship for sometime, as it is shown he also transported Gon's father, Ging Freecss to one of the ports associated with the exam 20 years prior to the storyline.

Appearance
The Captain is a fairly elderly man with a short and stocky build. He has a beard which extends down and around his face with an integrated mustache. His eyebrows are similarly shaggy. His nose is permanently red, most likely attributed to his constant drinking as he carries around a bottle of alcohol. His attire consists of a sea captain's hat adorned with a whale emblem, a jacket covering a V-neck top with belt, trousers and black rubber boots. During the initial storm, he is seen with a pipe. In the anime, his hat is white, his jacket dark blue, his trousers brown, his belt green and his top beige. His facial hair is black and the rest of his hair is greying and his complexion is tanned.

Personality
The Captain is a kind and generous man, opting to bring Leorio, Kurapika and Gon to the closest port to the exam hall and teaches Gon the basics of steering a ship. He can be critical of others at times, as on the ship he calls all the seasick passengers pathetic. His experience seems to have educated him, as he is capable of accurately predicting when a storm is going to hit, hours in advance and navigate a ship through vicious storms. From his appearances on the ship, it would appear he is an avid drinker and is a smoker.

Preliminary Hunter Exam arc
As Gon embarks on his journey to become a hunter, he boards the ship going to the mainland on which the Hunter Exam takes place from the harbor on Whale Island. The ship is commanded by the Captain, whom is first seen navigating the ship through a perilous storm at sea, hurling the majority of the passengers aboard to and fro. As the storm subsides, the Captain relinquishes the helm to take a look around the ship to see the effects of the storm on the passengers or "supercargo" as he calls them. He goes to have a talk with the unscathed Gon on the bow and is very impressed that he detects a second, larger storm is on its way. This triggers déjà vu, and the Captain sees an apparition of Gon's father, Ging Freecss, in the shadow of his son, whom presumably told the Captain a similar thing when he traveled on his ship 20 years beforehand. He then invites Gon to the bridge to show him how to steer the ship, much to Gon's pleasure.

Announcing to the ship a little later on that a second, greater storm is on its way and there are lifeboats available for anyone who would like to give up, the Captain finds only three passengers are left aboard, Leorio, Gon and Kurapika. He asks them what their reasons are for becoming Hunters and reveals that he himself is an agent of the Hunter Examination. As sparks fly between Leorio and Kurapika, the Captain shows concern that one of them may be finished if they go overboard during their fight on the deck.

The Captain takes a shine to the trio as they save one of his employees from the brink of death going overboard and decides to take them to the nearest port to the examination hall, Dolle Harbor. He then continues his steering teaching with Gon.

Upon disembarking in Dolle Harbor, the Captain shakes hands with Gon and advises him to head in the direction of a lone pine tree atop a hill. Waving goodbye, the Captain utters that Ging has a fine son.

Trivia

 * In the 1999 anime adaptation his ship was named Kaijinmaru