Sergeant Bob Shaftoe is the brother of Jack Shaftoe. He is a Solidier in the Black Torrent Guards, who asscends to the rank of Colonel and who serves in Ireland under John Churchill. Bob Shaftoe was one of Eliza's lovers. It is not clear whether he fathered any of her children. Eliza's motive for taking Bob as a lover is unclear; she claimed that she seduced him to teach him a lesson about the ephemeral nature of love, but his resemblence to his brother Jack Shaftoe, who proved to be Eliza's lifelong romance but who could not personally perform the act of coitus with her, may well have played into her decision. It is also unclear whether Bob or Jack Shaftoe is the ancestor of the Shaftoe family in Cryptonomicon, although the closing scene of Jack's sons in America suggests that it is Jack