TreasureTreasure HunterHunter AdventuresAdventures 3:3: UnderwaterUnderwater SalvageSalvage Sample file 1 Introduction This supplement, for use with Treasure Hunter Adventures and the Savage Worlds RPG, presents tales of numerous lost ships and sunken cities that treasure hunters can pursue, along with a puzzle, deck plans for shipwrecks, a layout for a dive boat, and new equipment, hazards and Edges and Hindrances to add to the adventure. -Nate Christen 15 August 2020 Table of Contents Lost Ships and Sunken Cities... page 3 Deck Plans for Shipwrecks... page 6 New Gear... page 10 Dive Boat.. page 11 Ship's Crew... page 12 New Hazards... page 13 New Hindrance and Edges... page 14 Captain's Log... page 15 Glossary of Nautical Terms... page 16 Art Credits • Page 1: Shared by Scewing in Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tsunami_by_hokusai_19th_century.jpg . • Page 3: Shared by Strebe in Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Winkel_triple_projection_SW.jpg • Page 10: Shared by Alkari in Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Diver_Down_Flag.svg • Page 12: Shared by Alkari in Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alpha_flag.svg • Page 13: Shared by WarX in Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Edward_England.svg • Page 14: Shared by Vloeck in Wikimedia Commons: Samplehttps://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Windrose.svg file 2 Lost Ships and Sunken Cities Over 70% of the Earth is covered by water, and countless sailing vessels have succumbed to the oceans' cold embrace. Numerous settlements have also been drowned by the seas' changes. Refer to the map above for estimated locations of the following lost ships and sunken cities. 1. Spanish Treasure Fleet In 1523, following the conquest of the Aztec capital by forces led by Hernan Cortes, a trio of Spanish galleons set sail from the New World bound for Spain; they carried looted gold, silver, gems, and other valuables—including, it is believed, the weapon known as Xiuhcoatl, which had been taken from the Aztec ruler Moctezuma himself. Those vessels were attacked by a French corsair named Jean Fleury near the Azores, however, and at least one ship is believed to have been sunk during that battle. 2. Templar Treasure Fleet On Friday, 13 October 1307, King Philip IV of France and Pope Clement V decreed that the military order known as the Knights Templar should be disbanded, with members arrested and charged with crimes including heresy and even devil worship. In the early morning hours of that day, however, numerous ships belonging to the Order sailed from the port of La Rochelle in France, never to be seen again. Legend has it that the ships carried large amounts of gold and silver,Sample as well as many relics that the Knights had accumulated during the Crusades.file 3 3. Mongol Invasion Fleets The great Mongol leader Kublai Khan tried not once but twice to invade Japan, failing in both efforts. The first time he sent hundreds of ships and tens of thousands of soldiers; the second force included tens of thousands of ships and more than a hundred thousand soldiers. In the first effort, after some small victories, the Mongols were caught aboard their vessels in Hakata Bay by a typhoon, and many were sunk. During the second try, an even greater storm—known as kamikaze, and believed by some to have been sent by the storm god Raijin to protect Japan —sank them again. These two events were formative in the development of Japan's national identity, and so any wreckage recovered could bring great honor to the discoverer. 4. The Bonhomme Richard Starting its life as the Duc de Deras, a French merchantman that sailed routes to the East Indies, this ship was given on loan to the revolutionary American government during the War for Independence, under the command of Captain John Paul Jones. He audaciously sailed into British waters, engaging the ship Serapis off of Flamborough Head. The battle raged for more than three hours, with more than a hundred sailors killed on each side. Eventually Jones and his American crew won the day, although they had to transfer command to the captured Serapis as the Bonhomme Richard sank. While not believed to contain much in the way of loot, discovery of this wreck—and the bodies that remained aboard it—would be a major accomplishment in adding to American history. 5. La Santa Maria Most school children know the rhyme, “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue,” along with the fact that his three ships were the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria. Less familiar is the fact that the largest of those three vessels, the Santa Maria, went aground on Christmas Day of that year along the northern coast of Haiti. Columbus and his explorers used some of the timbers from the wreck to build Fort Navidad, the first European settlement in the Americas. Even so, the location for the rest of the wreck was lost. Given recent controversy regarding history, cultural appropriation and exploitation of the native people, finding what is left of this ship would be an event of tremendous significance. 6. Endurance Built in Norway in 1912, this vessel was initially named the Polaris, but at some point the name changed to Endurance. It was a three-masted barquentine with a steam engine, designed with an especially strong hull for sailing in arctic conditions. As part of a 1914-15 expedition to Antarctica commanded by Ernest Shackleton, the vessel ran into pack ice in the Weddell Sea and was trapped. Eventually it drifted close to Vahsel Bay, where efforts to free it persisted for months but were ultimately unsuccessful. When the hull was finally breached by the ice, the Endurance sank. As a symbol of exploration and persistence, finding this wreck would go a longSample way to establishing a treasure hunter's reputation. file 4 7. Port Royal Known at one time as “the wickedest city in the world,” Port Royal, Jamaica was once a safe harbor for buccaneers and pirates. Built on a spit of land on the southern end of the island, it boasted a number of military forts for protection, but was even better known for its taverns and brothels. It was from here that the notorious Henry “Bloody” Morgan led raids on the Spanish treasure holdings at Panama, Portobello and Maracaibo. On 7 June 1692, an earthquake caused much of the sandy soil to be liquefied, sinking many buildings into the ground and sea. Some viewed this as divine punishment for the sinful ways of the town's inhabitants, rather than as a natural disaster. Whatever the truth of it, there's no denying that much of the wealth accumulated by the pirates remains yet to be claimed. 8. Thera Also called Santorini, this island lies a little north of Crete in the Aegean Sea, south of Greece. While there are still many buildings on the island, as it is a noted tourist destination, it was once much bigger. A massive volcanic eruption around 1600 BCE destroyed much of the island and left behind the current crescent shape around a broad caldera. This buried the city Akrotiri on the island, and sent a tsunami toward Crete. That likely led to tremendous hardship for the existing Minoan culture there, and may eventually have led to the Minoans being overrun by Mycenaean people from mainland Greece. These are the same Minoans described in the myths of King Minos, Daedalus and Icarus, and Theseus and the Minotaur. 9. Alexandria Across the Mediterranean Sea from Crete is the shore of Egypt, where the city of Alexandria was once one of the most influential in the world. It was founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BCE, and then ruled by Greek kings named Ptolemy and queens named Cleopatra. In addition to the tomb of Alexander, the city was also home to a famous lighthouse, the Pharos, as well as a library believed to have held tens and possibly even hundreds of thousands of scrolls. Many of the scrolls are believed to have been lost in a fire when Julius Caesar attacked the city, but some say others were carried away by scholars, and that some were even given to Cleopatra Selune when she married King Juba, and could still be hidden beneath the Royal Mausoleum of Mauretania in modern-day Algeria. Much of the city was destroyed by a tsunami resulting from an earthquake in Crete in the year 365, creating extensive underwater ruins. 10. Yonaguni Long a popular destination for divers because of its hammerhead shark population, this island attracted even more attention when tourism director Kihachiro Aratake discovered what he thought could be megalithic structures shaped by human hands. There are numerous flat areas that some claim are plazas, along with what could be a pool and other formations. Debate continues as to their natural or artificial nature; some even assert that it is a remnant of the settlement Yamatai, which is first referenced in the Chinese text Records of the Three KingdomsSample. file 5 Deck Plans for Shipwrecks As mentioned above in the description of pirate gold, loot lost aboard ships at sea is possibly the most common type of treasure to be found in the world. For that reason, detailed below are deck plans for four different types of old-fashioned sailing craft, suitable for treasure hunters to explore. Junk This style of vessel, most common in China and Japan, features an open main deck (1) with the quarter- and poop decks rising above it. Beneath the quarter deck a passage leads past half a dozen smaller cabins (2) to a larger one (3).