Ned Bean

Ned Bean, called Blackbean for his thick black beard, was a sellsail appointed to advise and serve as second-in-command of a royal fleet bound for the Stepstones. His part in the campaign was brief but revealing: he was sent back when he tried to take command of Alyn Velaryon’s ships, then accepted a mistaken explanation of Alyn’s disappearance just before the Velaryon fleet struck the Braavosi.

Identity and Appointment

Ned Bean was known as a notorious sellsail, and his nickname came from his thick black beard. When Lord Unwin Peake prepared a royal expedition to the Stepstones, he chose his uncle Gedmund Peake to command the fleet. Although Gedmund was a renowned warrior, he had little knowledge or experience of ships, so Ned was appointed his second-in-command and naval adviser.

The expedition’s purpose was to end Racallio Ryndoon’s rule on Bloodstone and establish a presence there, reopening the narrow sea to trade. The royal force included eight newly built warships and about twenty older cogs and galleys. To strengthen it, Alyn Velaryon assembled sixty war galleys, thirty longships, and more than a hundred cogs and great cogs. Ned’s appointment placed him in a supporting role within a much larger fleet whose experienced Velaryon commander would soon resist Gedmund’s authority.

A Failed Transfer of Command

As the fleet passed through the Gullet, Gedmund sent Ned aboard Alyn’s flagship, Queen Rhaenys, carrying a letter authorizing Alyn to take command of the Velaryon squadrons. The letter presented the arrangement as a way to benefit from Alyn’s years of experience. Alyn rejected the messenger and returned him to Gedmund, mocking the proposed command arrangement and Ned’s name.

The episode showed the limits of Ned’s position. He could carry a command from one fleet leader to another, but the letter did not secure Alyn’s cooperation. Alyn’s ships remained a powerful, separately led force, and the attempt to place them under Gedmund did not resolve the conflict between the commanders.

The Mistaken Reading at Tarth

Off Tarth, Lord Bryndemere brought news that the Sealord of Braavos, the Archon of Tyrosh, and Racallio had joined forces to control the Stepstones and restrict passage to licensed ships. Gedmund decided that the king’s Hand should be informed and ordered the fleet to wait at Tarth for a reply. Alyn objected that the delay would cost them the chance to surprise Racallio, but Gedmund held to his decision, and the two commanders parted angrily.

The following morning, Ned woke Gedmund with the news that Alyn and the entire Velaryon fleet had slipped away during the night. Ned and Gedmund assumed that Alyn had gone north to Driftmark; Ned agreed with Gedmund’s dismissive judgment that the young lord had fled. In fact, Alyn had taken his ships south. Three days later, while Gedmund’s royal fleet was still waiting off Tarth, Alyn attacked the Braavosi at Bloodstone and caught them unprepared.

Role in the Campaign

Ned’s recorded actions place him at the intersection of naval expertise and command friction: he was selected because Gedmund lacked maritime experience, yet he could not make the proposed transfer of command acceptable to Alyn. At Tarth, he shared the mistaken assumption that Alyn had withdrawn from the expedition, while the subsequent attack revealed how far that assessment was from events. The account establishes Ned’s appointment and these two episodes, but does not relate his later actions or fate.