Earl Lanier

Warning Spoilers through Straits of Hell. Earl Lanier is USS Walker's irascible, fat cook from near Pinedale, Wyoming. Known for browbeating his assistants, Ray Mertz, and Lemurians 'Pepper,' and 'Tabasco.' Earl has loved catching and eating fish since he was a kid and he continues to fish, often bringing up monsters in these strange seas. His Coke machine is his pride and joy and can be found early in the series protecting it by moving it from one part of the ship to another. He can often be heard arguing with Juan Marcos, the Captain's Steward. Generally, he provides comic relief in the books. He fights and is wounded in his gut in Crusade and Iron Gray Sea. He also lays out the dead in Deadly Shores after the fight.

In Straits of Hell he is involved in the loss of Isak Reuben's pet 'Griky.'