History is fractally interesting. Start examine any event, or following any citation, and interesting facts emerge. But some places, for whatever reason, seem to attract a disproportionate level of interesting events.
Trindade is a small volcanic island in the middle of the south Atlantic. 700 miles off the coast of Brazil, and more than 1,200 miles from Ascension Island (itself a tiny volcanic dot in the sea). The island is around 3.5 miles long and 1.5 miles wide. Despite being a speck of land in the middle of nowhere (or possibly because if it), Trindade has a very high density of RPG-relevant plot seeds. Feel free to jump ahead to section 7. It's where the real Call of Cthulhu stuff starts. The rest is useful, but but section 7 is why this article exists.
1. Summary
Here's an official overview of the island, from the South Atlantic Directory via E.F. Knight's, The Cruise of the Falcon.
Trinidad is surrounded by sharp, rugged coral rocks, with an almost continual surge breaking on every part, which renders landing often precarious, and watering frequently impracticable, nor is there a possibility of rendering either certain, for the surf is often incredibly great, and has been seen during a gale at S.W., to break over a bluff which is 200 feet high.
Captain Edmund Halley, afterwards Dr. Halley, Astronomer Royal, landed on this island, the 17th of April, 1700, and put on it some goats and hogs, and also a pair of guinea fowl, which he carried from St. Helena. 'I took,' says his journal, ' possession of the island in his majesty's name, as knowing it to be granted by the king's letters patent, leaving the Union Jack flying.'
When the English went to Trinidad in 1781, in order to ascertain whether a settlement was practicable there, they did not find it answer their expectations.
The American commander, Amaso Delano, visited Trinidad in 1803, and he, again, describes it as mostly barren, rough pile of rocky mountains. What soil there is on the island he found on the eastern side, where are several sand beaches, above one of which the Portuguese had a settlement.
This settlement was directly above the most northerly sand-beach on the east side of the island, and has the best stream of water on the island running through it.
Delano got his water o£f the south side of the island. Here a stream
falls in a cascade over rocks some way up the mountains, so that it can
be seen from a boat when passing it. After you have discovered the
stream, you can land on a point of rocks just to the westward of the
watering-place, and from thence may walk past it, and when a little to
the eastward, there is a small cove among the rocks where you mav float
your casks off. Wood may be cut on the mountain just above the first
landing-place, and you may take it off if you have a small oak boat.
2. The Astronomer: Sir Edmund Halley, 1700
Whilest the Long Boate brought more
Water on Board I went a Shore and put Some Goats and Hoggs on the Island
for breed, as also a pair of Guiney Hens I carry’d from St. Helena.
-Edmund Halley's log for April 17th, 1700, as quoted on Halleys Log.
From a modern ecological perspective, landing "Goats and Hoggs" on an isolated tropical island is slightly better than detonating a thermonuclear warhead on it, but only slightly. But in 1700, ecological preservation was not an issue. Halley lived closer to witch-burnings (1727) than to Charles Darwin. Scurvy, which killed between 20% and 50% of sailors on long voyages (though digging into the source of that number leads to some dubious math), was an issue; the only known cure was fresh food. Rats and cats may have already been present, deposited by prior visitors or shipwrecks.
Plot Seeds for 1700
-Edmund Halley has some tentative ideas on the cyclical nature of comets, and the cyclical nature of the world. The impact of a comet could, by Halley's estimation, churn the world's surface, extinguishing all life and human civilization, which God, in his wisdom, would then renew. Genesis, and biblical history, starts with a comet impact. What happened before is unrecorded. This may explain certain oddities about the age of the solar system, erosion, nutrient depletion, rock formations, etc. It explains why Hudson's Bay is colder than its equivalent latitude in Europe; it's the icy residue of the former North Pole, but the Earth was knocked off its old axis by the last impact. Halley though the most recent impact site was the Caspian Sea, with its crater-like southern basin. Trindade isn't on the opposite side of the world (that'd be too convenient), but Halley expected rings of waves to travel around the world, smashing into each other, burying sea life under newly raised mountains (to produce fossils). A ridge of mountains in the sea, like the Trindade, could validate that theory. A few heretical fragments of an ante-antediluvian civilization could, in theory, be present in such a place. What technological heights did the last people (if they were people) attain, before all Creation returned to Chaos?
-Halley also proposed that the Earth is hollow (ish), although his hypothesis is closer to an "iron core inside a molten shell" than "caverns full of mushrooms and dinosaurs." But it's still a hollow earth proposal, and if your players don't check their references carefully, it'd be easy to pick out a few quotes, put an entrance in Trindade, and set the players on a fun Verne-style adventure.
-Halley invented an early diving bell, capable of reaching depths up to 20m. Using one near Trindade seems like drowning with extra steps, but a secret 18th-century submarine project could be useful for a secret history game. Sinking Spanish and Portuguese ships in a deniable way, looting undersea treasures, etc.
3. The Survivors: The Wreck of the Rattlesnake, 1781
HMS Rattlesnake, a 198-ton, 12-gun cutter-rigged sloop, was wrecked on Trindade on 21 October 1781, shortly after Commander Philippe d'Auvergne had taken over command. Rattlesnake had been ordered to survey the island to ascertain whether it would make a useful base for outward-bound Indiamen.
She anchored, but that evening the wind increased and by seven o’clock
she was dragging. Two hours later the first cable parted and Commander
d’Auvergne club-hauled his way out, setting main and fore sails, and using the remaining anchor cable as a spring. This successfully put Rattlesnake’s
head to seaward. The remaining cable was then cut, and the sloop wore
round and stood out to sea. However the ground now shallowed quite
rapidly and suddenly Rattlesnake struck a submerged rock. She
started filling with water, so, in order to preserve the lives of the
crew, d'Auvergne ran her ashore. Commodore Johnstone on board HMS Jupiter
had previously wished to colonise the island and claim it for Britain,
so d'Auvergne agreed to stay on the tiny island with 30 sailors, 20
captured French sailors, one French woman, some animals and supplies.
They were resupplied by another ship in January 1782, then they appear
to have been forgotten, as they lived on the tiny island for a year
until HMS Bristol and a convoy of Indiamen, which fortuitously called there, rescued them in late December 1782.
-Wikipedia
This seems like an extraordinary story, but there's not much info available online. I've ordered a copy of the wiki article's main source (In the English Service: The Life of Philippe D'Auvergne by Jane Ashelford), and I'll update this article when it arrives (or when I can track down other sources). I have so many questions. Some of them are not pleasant.
That anyone, let alone such a heterogenous crew, could survive fourteen months on Trindade is remarkable. As we'll see, it can't have been easy. Halley's hogs and goats don't seem to feature in the accounts I've found so far.
Plot Seeds for 1781
-Your boss has marooned you, thirty sailors, twenty French sailors, and one French woman on a volcanic island.
-As above, but after surviving and returning to civilization, you may feel the need to seek poetic revenge.
4. The Sea-Captain: Amasa Delano, 1803
The account of Amasa Delano is utilitarian to the point of brusqueness. He reports "plenty of goats and hogs", which could be survivors of Halley's expedition or new arrivals left by Portuguese settlers. The island's trees seem to be alive in 1803, but, as we'll see, they don't last long.
Plot Seeds for 1803
-Trindade's natural hazards probably ended initial Portuguese settlement attempts in the early 19th century, but the abandoned houses, paths, and fields provide an eerie setting. In a fictional alternative version, it looks like the settlers died of starvation and were stripped to the bone by land crabs where they fell... but who carried off the skulls, and why? And why do the storms on the island have lightning without thunder? You didn't notice it at first, between the waves and the rain...
The Ross Antarctic Expedition briefly stopped on Trindade on its way south.
As a magnetic station, our observations here were utterly valueless, but the results may be useful by pointing out, in a striking manner, the great amount of error to which those made on shore are liable. Three dipping needles placed at only just sufficient distance apart to ensure their not influencing each other, indicated as much as three degrees difference of the dip, and all of them considerably less than that corresponding to the geographical position. To as large an amount also were the observations of variation vitiated by the local disturbing magnetic influence, whilst those taken on board our ships were perfectly free from these errors.
Horsburgh mentions that the island abounds with wild pigs and goats; one of the latter was seen. With the view to add somewhat to the stock of useful creatures, a cock and two hens were put on shore; they seemed greatly to enjoy the change and, I have no doubt, in so unfrequented a situation, and so delightful a climate, will quickly increase in numbers.
-Voyage to the Southern Seas, James Clark Ross.
Plot Seeds for 1839
-The minor magnetic deviation reported by Ross is entirely normal and explicable. Your players don't necessarily know that. Quoted out of context, this could be an interesting fact (or a red herring) for any expeditions to the island to discover with a Library Use roll.
-You and your fellow PCs are chickens, released into a strange and hostile world.
6. The Pirate: The CSS Georgia, 1863
As I said in the introduction, Trindade is fractally interesting. I discovered this visit while researching section 9.
A highly interesting communication about Trinidad has
been received at the Bureau of American Republics from Mr. J. M. Morgan,
who, during the late war, was a lieutenant in the Confederate Navy, and
during the former Cleveland administration was United States Consul-general at Melbourne, Australia. Mr. Morgan, who had been
written to on the subject of the ownership of Trinidad by Mr. H. H.
Marmaduke of the Bureau of American Republics, says in answering:
"In
reply to your inquiry concerning the Island of Trinidad, the title of
which is now in dispute by Great Britain and Brazil, I would state
that it does not belong to either of them. Strange as it may appear, the
title legally rests with the United States, as the residuary legatee of
the late Southern Confederacy.
In the summer of 1863, was a midshipman
on board of the S.C. cruiser Georgia, then lying in the harbor of Bahia, Brazil, in company with the Alabama. Capt. Semmes decided to
cruise o the southward of Rio Janeiro, and thence to the cape of Good
Hope while the Georgia was to follow as far south as Rio and then
proceed to the island of Trinidad for coal, our collier having been ordered
there, and also for the purpose of making a digression in favor of the Alabama.
The Island of Trinidad is a very picturesque spot. It is six
miles in circumference and 800 feet high. Alongside of it, at the
eastern end, and helping to form the little harbor, is the ‘Monument,'
which is some 250 feet in diameter and rises out of the sea to a height
of 1,200 feet. Here the Georgia lay for some six weeks. Vessels,
after
rounding the Cape of Good Hope, or Cape Horn, endeavor to sight
Trinidad for the purpose of seeing if their chronometers are all right,
and then mark their courses for New York or Liverpool , and while we lay
in this cove, or harbour, we ‘brought to’ many merchant vessels. The
first intimation they would have that a Confederate cruiser was in the
neighborhood would be a shot skipping across their bows. Here it was
that we captured and burned in the harbor the ship Constitution of
Boston, and also captured and bonded the City of Bath, of Bath, Me.
Trinidad is an ideal coaling station for commerce destroyers or a
naval station for the protection of commerce. It is habitable, although
not inhabited. When the Georgia took possession, a few wild hogs
and millions of sea fowl were the only living things to be seen.
Trinidad could be easier defended than Gibraltar, and is naturally a
stronger position. In certain winds the waves, with the full sweep of
the Atlantic, strike the island and send the spray some 300 or 400 feet
into the air. The sight beggars description. At the time the Georgia
took possession and made it a Confederate coaling station the island of
Trinidad was not claimed by any nation. Had it been so, Capt. Maury was
much too careful a commander to have broken the neutrality laws by
taking prizes in there, coaling ship without permission, and ‘heaving to’ neutral ships as he lay at anchor in the harbor."
-The Pilot, Aug 17th, 1895
Plot Seeds for 1863
-The film Sahara (2005) is by no means good, but the core idea - a secret Confederate gold shipment in a preposterous location - could easily work on Trindade.
-Trindade could also work as a bastion of the Confederate cause long after the war ends. A few crazed die-hards and a wrecked ship could interfere with treasure-hunting schemes.
7. The Treasure-Hunter: E.F. Knight, 1881
Edward Frederick Knight had an extraordinary life. In 1880, he sailed up and down South America in a 30-ton 42'-long yacht. His book, The Cruise of the 'Falcon', contains the most poetic and unsettling description of Trindade.
This is the text to give your Call of Cthulhu or Delta Green group. The book went through several printings in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, so finding a suitably foxed copy to hand to your players is trivial.
When my men heard of my intention of sailing to this lone island of the
South Atlantic, they expressed great delight, especially when they
learnt that pigs and goats were reported to be its sole inhabitants. On
this, the 23rd of November [1881], being our ninth day out, Trinidad was about
1000 miles to the north-east of us.
[...]
This savage spot afforded a good specimen of the nature of the island. Utterly barren mountains rose from a coral beach, mountains that were rotten — and the whole island is so — burnt and shaken to pieces by the fires and earthquakes of volcanic action.
What struck us as remarkable was, that though in this cove there was no live vegetation of any kind, there were traces of an abundant extinct vegetation. The mountain slopes were thickly covered with dead wood, wood, too, that had evidently long since been dead; some of these leafless trunks were prostrate, some still stood up as they had grown; many had evidently been trees of considerable size, bigger round than a man's body. They were rotten, brittle, and dry, and made glorious fuel. This wood was close grained, of a red colour, and much twisted. When we afterwards discovered that over the whole of this extensive island, from the beach up to the summit of the highest mountain — at the bottom and on the slopes of every now barren ravine, on whose loose rolling stones no vegetation could possibly take root — these dead trees were strewed as closely as is possible for trees to grow ; and when we further perceived that they all seemed to have died at one and the same time, as if plague-struck, and that no one single live specimen young or old was to be found anywhere, — our amazement was increased.
At one time Trinidad must have been one magnificent forest, presenting to passing vessels a far different appearance to that it now does with its inhospitable and barren crags. The descriptions given in the Directory allude to these forests; therefore, whatever catastrophe it may have been that killed off all the vegetation of the island, it must have occurred within the memory of man.
I don't mind telling you that, while researching this article chronologically, this text gave me a proper chill. Land-crabs and seabirds are adorable when seen with modern eyes, but something about a dead forest, with every tree withered at the same time, on a deserted island of volcanic stone, filled me with genuine creeping dread.
We slowly toiled up the ravine, and wearisome work it was; sometimes on one side, sometimes on the other, of the watercourse, at times floundering through it, according as one or the other offered the safest and easiest route. The ascent was steeper than we had anticipated, and great rocks fallen from above offered constant obstructions. The dead trunks of trees everywhere crossed the stream. Of vegetation there was at first none but a wiry long grass which covered the soil, wherever there was any. But after we had ascended a considerable distance we came across those beautiful products of the tropics, the tree-ferns.
At first, of small growth, they filled up the hollow of the stream only, having exactly the appearance of our common English fern, but higher up we found them extending their fan-like masses of vivid-green leaves from the summits of lofty trunks.
At last we reached the summit of the ravine and were on the Col, for such it was, a gentle depression between two mountains, and here found ourselves in the midst of a very different nature, and enjoyed the loveliness of a scene such as we little guessed stern Trinidad concealed within its encircling wall of wild crags. For now we saw no rocks, we were walking on a soil powdery and soft and dry, into which our feet sank. The mountain that rose above us on our left was a gentle dome of similar soil ; and all. was covered with a rich and beautiful vegetation. We were walking through a dense grove of tree-ferns, whose branches meeting overhead, like cathedral aisles, allowed but a subdued light to fall on the soft floor below, where millions of land-crabs crawled about ; for these hideous beasts, swarm on this island even to the mountain-tops. Other life there was none, not even insect.
A gentle breeze blew over the Col from the windward side of the island, very grateful to us after our ascent of the hot, windless ravine. The scene, with its fresh green, seemed very beautiful to us at the time, as beautiful as anything we had ever seen. But after a month on the barren sea, and after the contrast of the dreary coast-scenery beneath us, any vegetation could not but seem very beautiful.
On the summit of the mountain there appeared to be some other tree growing with a darker foliage, but we left the inspection of this for our return journey, for we wished without delay to descend to the windward side of the island, which seemed to hold out a magic attraction for us.
[...]
Certainly the whole nature, live or dead, of this lonely island has something uncanny about it that dismays and appalls the imagination. This ravine, with its black rocks, varied occasionally by red volcanic debris, its strange vegetation of dead trees throwing out their skeleton arms, and its inhabitants savage, foul birds, and the still more offensive-looking land-crabs, struck us as having a particularly ghastly and spirit-depressing appearance. Among such scenery one felt as if anything horrible might happen at any moment, and a vague feeling of insecurity seized the mind.
[...]
We wandered on, opening out bay after bay for some hours, till on traversing a rocky promontory we came to an extensive gulf, backed on its further side by the huge mass of Sugar-loaf mountain; great walls of rock surrounded it, and altogether it was as inhospitable-looking a place as shipwrecked sailor was ever cast on. Now all the shore of this gulf was strewed with wreckage. Along the whole of this windward coast we had perceived many spars, barrels, timbers, and other remains of vessels, but here they were in much larger quantity than elsewhere, so we named this dreary spot Wreck Bay. From its position in the region of the south-east trade-winds a vast amount of drift and many derelict vessels must of a necessity be driven on to the windward coast of Trinidad, and indeed there was a marvellous accumulation. Judging from its appearance some of - this timber must have lain here for hundreds of years, and doubtlessly this beach preserves naval remains of every age since first vessels doubled the Cape of Good Hope. Apart from masts, barrels, and other driftage, we observed that more than one vessel, derelict doubtlessly, had been driven bodily on to the island, for we frequently saw two circular rows of ribs rising from the sand, with the corroded bolts sticking in them here and there, showing where the frame of some fine old ship lay buried.
What struck me as remarkable was that some of this wreckage had been cast up a great distance above what I judged to be high-water mark. Far up, jammed between two rocks, I perceived a huge iron beam that must have weighed many tons.
Again, this island is tailor-made for RPG adventures.
For some reason or other all hands were more or less ill on leaving Trinidad ; I was myself suffering from symptoms of malaria, which had been troubling me for some time, and which the recent fatigues I had gone through had much aggravated, so that I was debilitated and worn with fever, and almost unfit to work at all. The crew were no better. What was the matter with them, I could not pretend to say, for they had visited no malarious regions. I suspect that some of the fish we had caught and eaten were unwholesome, and we certainly had been indulging for some days on an exclusively fish diet.
Plot Seeds for 1881
-You've been shipwrecked on this horrible rock in the middle of the South Atlantic. There's just enough timber to build a raft and try to sail the 700 miles to Brazil. It's an old plot, but it checks out.
-There's a disease on Trindade. The crew of the Falcon were lucky to make it out alive... and unchanged.
-This is not a place of honour. How obvious do the Atlantean physical markers need to be to stop people from digging up their nuclear waste?
8. The Treasure-Hunter Returns: E.F. Knight, 1889
Eight years later, Knight decided to return to Trindade. He'd heard a rumour of buried treasure, considered it plausible, recruited a crew, and set off to search for it. Six months of treasure-hunting, on an island implacably hostile to human life. The Cruise of the 'Alerte' is a genuine adventure.
This journey is less interesting, for our purposes, than his first impressions, but the whole text is worth a read. Knight and his crew took constant casual risks. Life was simpler then, and, if you trusted people a whisker less competent than E.F. Knight, shorter too.
'Captain P—— took a liking to him, and showed him kindness on
various occasions. This man was attacked by dysentery on the voyage
from China to Bombay, and by the time the vessel reached Bombay he was
so ill, in spite of the captain's nursing, that he had to be taken to
the hospital. He gradually sank, and when he found that he was dying,
he told Captain P——, who frequently visited him at the hospital,
that he felt very grateful for the kind treatment he had received at
his captain's hands, and that he would prove his gratitude by
revealing a secret to him that might make him one of the richest men
in England. Captain P—— says that he appeared very uneasy about this
secret, and insisted on the door of the ward being closed, so that
there might be no listeners. He then asked Captain P—— to go to his
chest and take out from it a parcel. The parcel contained a piece of
old tarpaulin with a plan of the island of Trinidad on it.
'The man gave him this plan, and told him that at the place indicated
on it—that is, under the mountain known as the Sugarloaf—there was
an immense treasure buried, consisting principally of gold and silver
plate and ornaments, the plunder of Peruvian churches which certain
pirates had concealed there in the year 1821. Much of this plate, he
said, came from the cathedral of Lima, having been carried away from
there during the war of independence when the Spaniards were escaping
the country, and that among other riches there were several massive
golden candlesticks.
The story is, as Knight points out, a stereotypical example, but he apparently believed enough to return to Trindade.
As the stores would put down the vessel a good deal, we took out of
her a corresponding weight of ballast—about eight tons. Two tiers of
lead were removed from under the saloon floor, and in the space thus
gained we stowed the greater part of our tools. Among these was a complete set of boring apparatus constructed for us
by Messrs. Tilley, by means of which we should be enabled to explore
through earth and rock to the depth of fifty feet. We also carried a
Tangye's hydraulic jack, capable of lifting twelve tons, which we
found of service when large rocks had to be removed from the trenches.
Shovels, picks, crowbars, iron wheel-barrows, carpenters' and other
tools; a portable forge and anvil, dogs and other materials for
timbering a shaft if necessary, and a variety of other useful
implements were on board. We took with us two of Messrs. Piggot's
large emigrant tents, wire-fencing with which to surround our camp and
so keep off the land-crabs, a few gardener's tools and seeds of
quick-growing vegetables for the kitchen-garden which we intended to
plant on the island—a horticultural scheme which never came off in
consequence of the want of water—taxidermic gear with view to the
rare sea-birds that breed on the island, medical stores and surgical
instruments, fishing-tackle; and, in short, we were well-equipped with
all needful things, a full inventory of which would nearly fill this
book.
Neither did we omit the precaution of arming ourselves in case any one
should choose to molest us, a not altogether improbable event; for
there was a talk of rival expeditions starting for the island at the
very time we were fitting out; our plans had been fully discussed in
the newspapers, despite our attempt to keep secret our destination at
least; and I called to mind the Yankee vessel that had endeavoured to
anticipate the 'Aurea.' Should some such vessel appear on the scene
just as we had come across the treasure, it would be well for us to be
prepared to defend it.
Each man, therefore, was provided with a Colt's repeating-rifle, and
in addition to these there were other rifles and several revolvers on
board, and no lack of ammunition for every weapon. The Duke ofSutherland kindly lent us one of Bland's double-barrelled
whaling-guns, which was carried on his Grace's yacht, the 'Sans Peur,'
during her foreign cruises. This was a quick firing and formidable
weapon, discharging steel shot, grape, shell, and harpoons, and
capable of sending to the bottom any wooden vessel. I think the sight
of it inspired some of my crew with ideas almost piratical. I have
heard them express the opinion that it was a shame to have such a gun
lying idle on board, and that an opportunity ought to be found of
testing its powers.
The proper adventuring mindset: an extensive inventory and ludicrous firepower.
We knew that the
Portuguese had laid claim to Trinidad something like two hundred years
ago, and it was possible that the Brazilians, as successors to the
Portuguese in this quarter of the globe, might consider the island as
their own, and assert their right to any valuables we might find upon
it. I need scarcely say that I had made up my mind, should we find the
treasure, to sail directly to some British port. I would not trust
myself in any country of the Spanish or Portuguese; for once in their
clutches we should in all probability lose all the results of our
labour. The Roman Catholic Church of Spain or Lima might, with a fair
show of right, demand the treasure as her own; so might the
Governments of Peru, Chile, Brazil, Spain, or Portugal. But if we
could once secure it, get it safely home, and divide it, it would be
exceedingly difficult for any one to establish a better right to it
than we could—for should we not have the right of possession, with
nine-tenths of the law on our side?
Don't count your chickens before they're hatched, but be prepared to start a war to defend them.
It would, of course, have been very pleasant for me to have selected
my volunteers from among my own friends, especially those who had been
at sea with me before; but this I found to be impossible, at any rate
at such short notice. I knew dozens of men who would have liked
nothing better than to have joined me, but all were engaged in some
profession or other which it would have been folly to have neglected
for so problematic a gain. The type of man who is willing to toil
hard, endure discomfort and peril, and abandon every luxury for nine
months on the remote chance of discovering treasure, and is, moreover,
willing to pay 100l. for the privileges of doing so, is not to be
found easily, either in the professional or wealthy classes.
There are, doubtless, thousands of Englishmen willing to embark on a
venture of this description, but it is obvious that there is a
likelihood of a fair percentage of these volunteers being adventurers
in the unfavourable sense of the term—men anxious to get away from
England for reasons not creditable to themselves, men, too, of the
rolling-stone description and more or less worthless in a variety of
ways, and who would be more likely than the paid sailors to wax
discontented and foment mutiny. I realised that the selection of my
men should be made with great care.
Of volunteers I had no lack. An article in the St. James's
Gazette describing my project brought me applications to join from
something like 150 men.
Some of the letters I received were great curiosities in their way,
and would cause much amusement could I publish them. I interviewed
some sixty of the applicants, and this was certainly far the most
arduous and difficult work connected with the undertaking, so far as I
was concerned. I shall never forget how weary I became of the
repetition to each fresh visitor of the conditions and object of the
voyage, and with what dread I looked forward to my visits to the
little club at which these interviews were held.
It's straight out of Treasure Island or some other adventure story. A proper rogue's gallery of the inexperienced, enthusiastic, and treasure-mad.
As we neared [Trindade], the features of this extraordinary place could
gradually be distinguished. The north side, that which faced us, is
the most barren and desolate portion of the island, and appears to be
utterly inaccessible. Here the mountains rise sheer from the boiling
surf—fantastically shaped of volcanic rock; cloven by frightful
ravines; lowering in perpendicular precipices; in places over-hanging
threateningly, and, where the mountains have been shaken to pieces by
the fires and earthquakes of volcanic action, huge landslips slope
steeply into the yawning ravines—landslips of black and red volcanic
débris, and loose rocks large as houses, ready on the slightest
disturbance to roll down, crashing, into the abysses below. On the
summit of the island there floats almost constantly, even on the
clearest day, a wreath of dense vapour, never still, but rolling and
twisting into strange shapes as the wind eddies among the crags. And
above this cloud-wreath rise mighty pinnacles of coal-black rock, like
the spires of some gigantic Gothic cathedral piercing the blue
southern sky.
[...]
My companions had expected, from what I had told them, to find this
islet a strange, uncanny place, barren, torn by volcanic action and
generally forbidding, and now they gazed at the shore with amazement,
and confessed that my description of its scenery was anything but
exaggerated. It would be impossible to convey in words a just idea of
the mystery of Trinidad. The very colouring seems unearthly—in places
dismal black, and in others the fire-consumed crags are of strange
metallic hues, vermilion red and copper yellow. When one lands on its
shores this uncanny impression is enhanced. It bears all the
appearance of being an accursed spot, whereupon no creatures can live,
save the hideous land-crabs and foul and cruel sea-birds.
This description is similar to Knight's first visit, but it's worth repeating. Trindade is a strange, unearthly place.
While we were discussing things, there suddenly came a violent
thumping on the deck above us, and from the shouts and laughter of the
men we knew that something exciting was going on; so we went up the
companion-ladder to see what the fun might be. We found that a
fair-sized shark was tumbling about the deck in very active fashion,
while Ted was dodging him, knife in hand, ready to give him his
coup de grâce. Our sportsman had got his lines out as soon as
all had been made snug on deck, but his sport for the first hour
consisted of nothing but sharks, of which he caught several. After
this he had better luck and was able to supply the cook with fish
enough for dinner and breakfast for all hands.
The sea round Trinidad swarms with fish; but, for some reason, though
we got as many as we required, they were not to be so readily caught
now as at the time of my first visit; for then we hauled them in as
fast as we could drop our hooks in the water.
There are various species of edible fish here—among others, dolphins,
rock-cod, hind-fish, black-fish, and pig-fish. None of these
hot-water-fish are to be compared in flavour to those of Europe, and
we found that the sharks were the least insipid of the lot; stewed
shark and onions is not a dish to be despised.
Plot Seeds for 1889
-Journalist and gentleman-adventurer Edward Frederick Knight has put an ad in the papers, recruiting crew for a treasure-hunting expedition. Are you willing to put up £100 (around £16,000 in 2025) for a share of a treasure worth millions? Are you willing to sail to the ends of the earth, dig in arid conditions, endure awful food, thirst, land-crabs, foreigners, and fevers? No experience with sailing or exploration is required.
-It's a race. Knight was right to worry about a rival crew turning up, but luckily, your crew has a different idea of where to dig. When your works are sabotaged, it's only natural to blame the only other humans for hundreds of miles. Will you take revenge? Who'd believe a third faction at work? Land-crabs aren't organized. They can't crush a man's head with a falling boulder or cut the pipes of a salt-water distillery.
-Some slow poison seems to be affecting the island. Is it merely human interaction? Was the abundance of fish on the first visit due to nutrient-rich runoff from the dying forest, or did overfishing, coral-reef anchoring cause the decline? It can't be merely seasonal variation; the dates overlap. What strange metal or curious relic was buried with the pirate's hoard?
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Just look at those contour lines.
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After
the Portuguese, British, Brazilian, and assorted other claimants had
come and gone, in 1893, minor celebrity James Harden-Hickey claimed
Trindade for... himself, creating the Principality of Trinidad.
BARON HARDEN-HICKEY, who claims proprietorship of the island of
Trinidad, is a travelled French gentleman, of Irish extraction, who
married a daughter of Mr. H M. Flagler, the Standard Oil magnate. The
baron thought, as no one else seemed to care for the island, be would
take it, organize an absolute monarchy, and send a colony down there.
-The Pilot, Aug 17th, 1895
On Sunday, Nov. 5, 1893, the New York Tribune
gave him front-page publicity with an exclusive story on his scheme to
transform Trinidad into an independent country. Harden-Hickey argued
that "…the inland plateaus are rich with luxuriant vegetation… The
surrounding seas swarm with fish… Dolphins, rock-cod, pigfish, and
blackfish may be caught as quickly as they can be hauled out…the
exportation of guano alone should make my little country prosperous…"
Harden-Hickey’s announcement did not precipitate a
world crisis. In January 1894 [sic], when he proclaimed himself James I,
Prince of Trinidad, some nations even recognized him. One reporter
interviewed his father-in-law, who seemed surprisingly tolerant of the
adventure. He said, "My son-in-law is a very determined man… Had he
consulted me about this, I would have been glad to have aided him with
money or advice... But my son-in-law means to carry on this Trinidad
scheme, and he will."
The Prince announced that Trinidad would be a
military dictatorship. Its flag would be a yellow triangle on a red
ground. He began selling bonds for 1000 francs or $200, announcing that
anyone purchasing 10 of them was entitled to a free passage to the
island. In San Francisco, Harden-Hickey purchased a schooner to
transport colonists and ferry supplies and mail between Trinidad and
Brazil. He hired an agent to negotiate the construction of docks,
wharves and houses. He also contracted for Chinese coolies to provide an
instant proletariat. On Dec. 8, 1893, he instituted the Order of
Trinidad, an order of chivalry in four classes to reward distinction in
literature, the arts and the sciences. He then commissioned a firm of
jewelers to make a golden crown and issued a set of multicolored postage
stamps.
-William Bryk, NY Press (for a more complete article, see here)
The
ship and labourers never left the harbour. The scheme slowly imploded,
along with Harden-Hickey's mental health.
Plot Seeds for 1893
-While Harden-Hickey's scheme is laughable in practice, it has a glimmer of potential legality. Possession is nine tenths of the law though. Every prince needs an evil vizier. All you need to do is keep his most serene highness on track, pay a few bills, and you can literally live like kings.
-There are relatively few fresh sources of the blood and bodies of kings. Harden-Hickey's touch cures scrofula, but he doesn't know it. Plenty of ancient sacrificial rituals (or cultists who've read Frazer's Golden Bough and invented new ones) require a royal personage. The rituals just have to occur on the king's own land.
The 1910 Scott Antarctic Expedition is fascinating. Among other things, its members were heroes in search of a righteous cause. If the sordid reality of the Empire, the greed and stupidity and pettiness of the real world, couldn't measure up to their ideals, what cause could absorb their energy and talents? And so these monks of Kipling challenged uncaring and uncomplicated nature. They muddled, suffered, and died.
But before they reached the Antarctic, they had a few hair-raising adventures along the way.
This island is difficult of access, owing to its steep
rocky coast and the big Atlantic swell which seldom ceases.
It has therefore been little visited, and as it is infested with
land crabs the stay of the few parties which have been
there has been short. But scientifically it is of interest, not
only for the number of new species which may be obtained
there, but also for the extraordinary attitude of wild sea
birds towards human beings whom they have never learnt
to fear. Before we left England it had been decided to
attempt a landing and spend a day there if we should pass
sufficiently near to it.
[...]The tree ferns were numerous, but stunted. The gannets
were sleeping on the tops of the bushes, and some of
the crabs had climbed up the bushes and were sunning
themselves on the top. These crabs were round us in thousands—I
counted seven watching me out of one crack
between two rocks.
We sat down under the lee of the summit, and thought
it would not be bad to be thrown away on a desert island,
little thinking how near we were to being stranded, for a
time at any rate.
The crabs gathered round us in a circle, with their eyes
turning towards us—as if they were waiting for us to die to
come and eat us. One big fellow left his place in the circle
and waddled up to my feet and examined my boots. First
with one claw and then with the other he took a taste of
my boot. He went away obviously disgusted: one could
almost see him shake his head.
We collected, as well as our birds and eggs, some
spiders, very large grasshoppers, wood-lice, cockchafers,
with big and small centipedes. In fact, the place teemed
with insect life. I should add that their names are given
rather from the general appearance of the animals than
from their true scientific classes.
It's interesting that in Knight notes, "Other life there was none, not even insect." Knight was not, of course, a trained naturalist, but it's still peculiar that one crew should report abundant insect life while another crew reports none.
The following is Bowers' letter:
"Sunday, 31st July.
White terns abounded on the island.
They were ghost-like and so tame that they would sit on
one's hat. They laid their eggs on pinnacles of rock without
a vestige of nest, and singly. They looked just like
stones. I suppose this was a protection from the land-crabs,
about which you will have heard. The land-crabs
of Trinidad are a byword and they certainly deserve
the name, as they abound from sea-level to the top of
the island. The higher up the bigger they were.
The
surface of the hills and valleys was covered with loose
boulders, and the whole island being of volcanic origin,
coarse grass is everywhere, and at about 1500 feet is an
area of tree ferns and subtropical vegetation, extending up
to nearly the highest parts. The withered trees of a former
forest are everywhere and their existence unexplained,
though Lillie had many ingenious theories.
[...]The land-crabs
are little short of a nightmare. They peep out at you
from every nook and boulder. Their dead staring eyes
follow your every step as if to say, 'If only you will drop
down we will do the rest.' To lie down and sleep on any
part of the island would be suicidal. Of course, Knight
had a specially cleared place with all sorts of precautions,
otherwise he would never have survived these beasts, which
even tried to nibble your boots as you stood—staring hard
at you the whole time. One feature that would soon send
a lonely man off his chump is that no matter how many are
in sight they are all looking at you, and they follow step
by step with a sickly deliberation. They are all yellow
and pink, and next to spiders seem the most loathsome
creatures on God's earth."
The Worst Journey in the World has some extremely lively description of the difficulties landing and escaping from the island. It's well worth a read.
In September, 1914, the refitted liner HMS Carmania met the refitted liner SMS Cap Trafalgar, which was disguised as the HMS Carmania, off Trindade. Wikipedia's summary of this battle is pretty good. The two ships fought a spirited, if slightly archaic, battle of broadsides and manually loaded guns.
I can't find much information about the alleged German naval base on Trindade. Given the conditions and lack of tangible remains, it can't have been too impressive. Landing supplies wasn't any easier in 1914 than in 1910 (or 1700). The shoals allow for anchoring, but I can't imagine a multi-ton coal depot on the shore would be viable. By 1914, if an established colonial power didn't have a permanent naval base on an island, there must have been a pretty good reason.
Plot Seeds for 1914
-In July of 1914, you and your crew performed a daring series of robberies aboard the Cap Trafalgar. To escape the ship's detectives, you stashed the loot aboard, hoping to retrieve it on a later voyage. Unfortunately, war was declared in August, and the Cap Trafalgar is being sent to some remote island in the Atlantic to be refitted as a commerce raider. Can you sneak or inveigle your way aboard, retrieve your loot, and escape? Will a British warship ruin your plans?
-The sea drops precipitously off Trindade. It is a volcanic seamount, after all. The Cap Trafalgar wreck site has not been located, as far as I know. It's probably 5km down. The Titanic is 3.8km down, so locating and visiting this wreck seems unlikely. Who knows what creatures of the deep were stirred up by the descending hulk.
-What if the Cap Trafalgar didn't sink, and managed to sail to Martim Vaz island? What if the Carmania was likewise wrecked on the cliffs of Trindade? You could have duelling island wrecks, each trying to blast the other off the rocks with salvaged guns and jury-rigged boats. Admittedly, this is unlikely, as wireless signals meant other ships were already en route, but war is a chaotic time. One storm, one emergency report, and the islands could be forgotten for years.
-If both ships went down, the survivors could wash up on the same island, leading to all sorts of adventures while waiting for rescue. Things would probably be civil... at first.
12. The Prison, 1924
I'm relying on machine translations here, but a brief summary is plenty for RPG purposes. Trindade was used as a particularly cruel open-air prison from 1924 to 1927.
Plot Seeds for 1924
-The commandant has read a very interesting English book by a man named Knight. There is buried treasure on this island. Dig or perish.
-One of your fellow prisoners has read a very interesting English book by a man named Knight, and, as proof, has a gold coin. This could be a lie to inspire a revolt. It could be a coincidence. Or it could be that, just over the hill, there's an unbelievable fortune. Enough to finance a hundred revolutions, or retire to some other country under a new name.
13. The UFO, 1958
Once again, I'm relying on machine translations, but the gist is fairly simple. In 1958, a photographer named Almiro Baraúna allegedly spotted and photographed a UFO. It was, as you may have guessed, a hoax.
Plot Seeds for 1958
-Trindade is an isolated alien outpost. Dig for treasure and you might find a hatch.
-Aliens are using Trindade as a test case of human interaction with the environment. It's not looking good.
-If you're going to build a secret alien technology test facility, Trindade is probably a good place to do it, assuming you can ferry things on and off by helicopter. The sun-bleached corrugated metal shacks visible on satellite photos are obviously decoys.
-The hogs left behind by Edmund Halley in 1700 developed intelligence, an underground civilization, and antigravity technology. The eerie land-crabs are a red herring.
-There is a portal on Trindade that opens to other times, but not other
places. Edmund Halley opened it in 1700, while chasing a falling star.
It closed it in 1956, as the star rose again. But in the years
between, it might be possible to slip through time.
14. Miscellaneous Facts
Given the British habit of nicking unattended landmasses, articles that
touch on Brazilian sovereignty have a tone somewhere between peevishness and pride. It's only to be expected.
Hayunite, or hauyne, is only found in a few places on earth. Trindade is one of them. It's a beautiful mineral, but in the real world, that's about all. In a fictional setting, where cold fusion works or something, it could be extremely relevant. Maybe it's only found on alien landing sites, or it's required for time travel.
While the island's feral cats were exterminated in 1998, the last goats were apparently eliminated by snipers (!) in 2005. It's possible that these were the descendants of Halley's goats from 1700, but it's probable that other colonists augmented or reintroduced them. Given enough time (or some supernatural help), they could have evolved to resemble Myotragus.
This article mentions a shipwrecked yacht in 1994 and an undated modern fishing vessel mutiny. I can't find sources on either, but it just goes to show that Trindade is still generating plots.
There's a species of beetle, Liagonum beckeri, that lives on one rock in one ravine on Trindade and nowhere else. "The population is restricted to a wet rock of <1m2, inside a deep ravine. [...] The beetles run around only on those parts of the rock that are covered with a green algal biofilm." It'd be extravagant to use the whole rock.
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