Jack Miller

Jack Miller is in charge of wireless communications during the expedition.

Physical description
Jack is described as being 'thin and dark' and having the appearance of someone who has 'spent months on hard rations'.

Background
Jack was born near Bexhill in East Sussex in 1909. His father was a Classics teacher but was injured in gas attacks while fighting in the First World War and could no longer work, causing financial difficulties for the Miller family. He died of tuberculosis when Jack was 10 years old and Jack's mother also died of an unknown illness some years later.

Jack attended Bexhill Grammar and attended University College London on an Open Scholarship but later dropped out of his course in physics due to the financial strain caused by Great Depression. He then worked as an export clerk at Marshall Gifford, a stationary manufactuerer, and took General and Advanced courses in wireless communications at night classes.

Jack was taught to shoot by Mr Carwardine by shooting rabbits the South Downs in East Sussex. He owns a service pattern rifle.

Dark Matter
Jack is the fifth member of the expedition to Gruhuken in the Arctic and is in charge of communications via wireless. This involves keeping the press and reasearchers in the UK up to date on the progress of the expedition. He also takes some readings of the data to be sent off.

The expediton does not start well and they begin their stay in Gruhuken with only three of the original five members. After a sighting of a man that no one knows on the ice, Jack begins to feel anxious about the area and wonders in his journal if it is possible that it is haunted. When Gus falls ill and has to return with Algie to Longyearbyen for treatment Jack is left alone in Gruhuken and quickly becomes paranoid of the possible spirit that is haunting the expedition site.

Jack's mental stability deteriorates as the expedition continues and the actions of what is haunting Gruhuken become more frequent and malicious. He ends his journal under the assumption that the 'ghost' will kill him but Gus and Algie arrive to take him back from Gruhuken before this can happen. However, the spirit reaches them as they sail away and pulls Gus into the water - Jack attempts to save him but is unsuccessful.

The story resumes some nine years later, finding Jack living in Jamaica and working in the Botanical Gardens in Castleton, still attempting to recover psychologically from his stay in Gruhuken and mourning the death of Gus.

Gus Balfour
Jack seems to find Gus the most bearable of the group when they first meet, describing him as a 'schoolboy hero', although he still initially retains some of the feeling of his dislike of the upper class. As the story continues, however, they become friends and when Gus has to abandon the expedition due to illness Jack writes 'I miss Gus more than I've ever missed anyone', describing the feeling as a 'savage ache.' As staying in Gruhuken becomes harder for Jack, he frequently strengthens his resolve by reminding himself that he would be letting down Gus by bringing a stop to the expedition and he is moved to tears by their first wireless conversation while Gus recovers. He later comments that he has 'never felt this way about anyone' and although at this point he wonders only if it is hero-worship, Jack later admits to himself that his feelings are not platonic and that he is in fact in love with Gus.

Following Gus' death, Jack does not appear to have moved on to any other kind of sexual or romantic partner and, as he ponders whether his feelings were returned, he says that he is still in love with Gus. Regardless of the nature of their relationship, Gus still appears to be a large part of Jack's life as he visits the coast each year on the anniversary of Gus' death to 'speak' with Gus and remember him although he says that he can never return to Gruhuken and commemorate him there.

Algie Carlisle
Algie and Jack do not get along for the majority of the expedition as Jack often feels as if Algie looks down on him for being middle class and strongly opposes Algie's mistreatment of animals. Some of Jack's dislike may also be caused by jealousy as Algie is Gus' best friend and this is a role Jack would like to fill. However, after the expedition is stopped Algie is kind towards Jack and helps him get the appropriate care and acknowledgement for bravery from Gus' parents. At first, Jack blames Algie for Gus' death but this passes and Jack describes him later as a 'good friend', although their unwillingness to talk about Gruhuken keeps them less close.

Isaak
Isaak is one of the huskies that is taken on the expedition. Jack claims at first to not like the dogs, in contrast to Algie and Gus' love for them, but he becomes more fond of them in general as the expedition progresses. However, as Jack is left alone and the spirit haunting Gruhuken becomes more malevolent, he becomes closely attached to Isaak. This companionship is at times Jack's only source of comfort while at Gruhuken and later in Jamaica Jack comments that he does not know what he would have done without Isaak in Gruhuken and in the aftermath and that he is his 'best friend'.