Lost files

Lost files, as their name indicates, were documents that were scattered around the West Indies during the early 18th century in glass bottles, and eventually recovered by the pirate Alonzo Batilla.

While most of them provided a background on Alonzo's crew members and friends, some of them differed by displaying information on the current era.

Alonzo Batilla
The criminal Alonzo Batilla has still not been found. We believe he left Toulon under a false name, on board one of Admiral Cassard's ships. Since he has not returned from our victorious expedition in the English territories in the Caribbean, he must still be in the West Indies... I fought with him during the battles at Montserrat and Antigua. He was known under a different name – Jean I think – but one night we got drunk and he told me his real name was Alonzo. He was a fierce man, always the first to jump into a fight, and an expert shot. I saw him take down half a dozen men once... The total plunder of this successful expedition amounts to ten million pounds. The men have been satisfactory in service, yet some are barely civilized. They will surely go back to their depraved lifestyles once our ships return to France. Killing and plundering is all they know... We suffered an assault from the shabbiest bunch of seamen ever encountered, five pirates so ill-equipped they would barely have been a threat if not for their thirst for blood. All were killed, but their leader – a vicious man – I have put in irons. He has to be hanged, to set an example for his kind. Alonzo, I don't know if you'll ever read this letter. I'm sending it with a friend who leaves for the West Indies tomorrow. God knows if he'll be able to find you, but if he does, please return home. Mother is ill and she asks about you every day. Sometimes, she talks to you in her sleep... It has come to our attention that the buccaneer Alonzo Batilla has become a growing threat to peaceful commerce in our territories. This pirate has looted immense quantities of gold and become a known accomplice of Samuel Bellamy and Olivier Levasseur. If you encounter him, shoot him on sight.
 * -|Search warrant=
 * -|Sailor's note=
 * -|Admiral's report=
 * -|Ship log=
 * -|Mother's letter=
 * -|Navy report=

Olivier Levasseur (La Buse)
My love. Since I last saw you, my life has been a pitiful plunge into the depths of despair. You have bathed my existence in such charm and mystery that I cannot any longer fathom living without you by my side. I will leave Charles tomorrow, journey to Kingston, and wait for your arrival. Olivier Levasseur, also known as La Buse or La Bouche is an established French buccaneer sailing on the dreaded armed sloop Le Postillon. Responsible for multiple acts of piracy against our Navy, he needs to be apprehended at all costs. But be warned, this man cunning and dangerous... Ben Hornigold and Olivier Levasseur have become the most unlikely of allies. Despite a crew predominantly composed of French sailors and emancipated slaves, Levasseur has not stirred any trouble in Hornigold's squadron. Someone must have forced Hornigold's hand, but who? I wonder where I'll go when I am done with this place? Back home, to France, where my family is gone and my face forgotten? Or find some new territory where no-one knows me? I wonder what would be the best course of action... this day is not upon me yet, but I know I won't grow old in these islands... Alonzo has proved to be the boldest of captains, but Sam has changed these past months. He used to be carefree, but now he acts like a man on a mission. What is he after that he cannot share with us? Who is he working for? Will he betray us and keep all our glorious plunder to himself? I have found the best way to keep my bounty hidden from greedy eyes. An alphabet, a set of symbols and icons no-one will be able to decipher. And even if they do, they won't understand what it all means. I only need one mind to figure it out. One man that I could fully trust with my best secrets...
 * -|Lover's letter=
 * -|Navy report 1=
 * -|Navy report 2=
 * -|La Buse's journal 1=
 * -|La Buse's journal 2=
 * -|La Buse's journal 3=

Samuel Bellamy
A new menace has appeared, one that we must treat with the utmost concern. He is a brash Englishman, now nicknamed the Prince of Pirates – Samuel Bellamy, also known as Black Sam. His rise in the pirate heirarchy has been most impressive, after betraying Henry Jennings and obtaining his first command... My duty aboard the HMS Scarborough has just started, yet I already know the names of the men I am to chase. Olivier Levasseur, Samuel Bellamy and a new captain named Alonzo Batilla. Their intense activity in the past months has disrupted our trade routes and cost the crown thousands of pounds... It has come to our attention that Benjamin Hornigold, captain of the sloop-of-war Benjamin, has been deposed from his pirate captaincy, his sympathy for the crown judged as an act of cowardice by his crew. Hornigold's whereabouts are currently unknown but we are convinced he will soon resurface. Sam. I hope you get this letter. If you do, trust the man who brings it to you, for he is a person of merit and valor who will surely help you in your endeavors. We still lack information on the nature of the artifact we are after, but reports from Africa are expected in the coming weeks... I am getting very tired of playing this part. The clothes I wear, the flourish with which I speak. This Prince of Pirates is but a pathetic fake, a bawdy actor without flair or panache. Yet everyone seems fooled by my performance, and the more I act, the more they believe my words. Olivier has left and so will Alonzo if I keep lying to him. I wonder how this pirate will react to the truth. He won't join me, for his soul is raw and cruel, set on blood and gold. Yet, he has shown some promise. After all, I have seen worse men than him find redemption amongst us...
 * -|Navy report 1=
 * -|Hume's report=
 * -|Navy report 2=
 * -|Strange letter=
 * -|Bellamy's journal 1=
 * -|Bellamy's journal 2=

Jumao
Suspicious natives were spotted north of our plantation a few days after the slaves escaped. A party searched the area, but no-one was found. We advise all planters to be most vigilant. The escaped slaves are armed and extremely violent. One in particular has already killed men... The HMS Seaford has patrolled the coasts for a week now and there still is no sign of the murderous slaves who escaped the Durant plantation. We are convinced the men led the party into a trap and buried the bodies before returning inland and embarking on the South Coast... One of the escaped slaves was found last week, hidden in a basement, half crazy with starvation his hands and teeth bloody with rat guts. A diligent interrogation was conducted by Captain Rothell, but the man refused to answer any questions, and died shortly thereafter. His body was burned... Our investigation has finally led to conclusive information. The leader of the escaped slaves is a man named Jumao, a native from Isla de la Juventud who was forced into slavery at the age of 8, along with his brothers and mother. A search for living relatives will surely bring more answers... The family of the murdered plantation owner has offered a ransom of 100,000 gold coins to the men who bring them the head of the escaped slave Jumao. The man's whereabouts are currently unknown, but intensified pirate activity has been reported north of Hispanolia... The escaped slave named Jumao has finally been found, yet his capture will be a very risky operation. He is the quartermaster of a pirate crew captained by Alonzo Batilla, a buccaneer sailing with Olivier Levasseur and Samuel Bellamy. Captain Francis Hume has been detailed to hunt them down...
 * -|Plantation log=
 * -|Navy report 1=
 * -|Navy report 2=
 * -|Intelligence report 1=
 * -|Intelligence report 2=
 * -|Navy report 3=

Aaminah
Mother. You cannot read the words I write, but writing them down makes me feel I am talking to you. I do not know why they took us. I only know they will never keep us. I will escape, mother. I will find a ship and return home. I am not one to accept my fate. I will fight, I promise. I love you, mother. Mother. I know the ship will arrive soon. They are going to sell us, like animals, in a market. People will bid and we will be sold to a man they will want us to call master. I have no master, mother. Not even father was my master, and I will not let them do it. Tonight, we will fight... The young girl named Aaminah has been identified as the mastermind behind the rebellion on our ship. She has been harshly disciplined, but I have refused to put her to death for the important loss of profit this will produce. This girl will fetch a nice coin in the Kingston market... Many slavers have been attacked and their cargo stolen. Pirates are notorious for attacking merchant ships, but very few have actively participated in the trading of humans. This present issue will surely be soon resolved by the Royal Navy, but until then, caution is recommended... A handful of liberated slaves have been caught on the northern shores of Cuba. They all spin a tale of a mysterious pirate ship whose captain obeys the order of an African goddess who strikes terror in the hearts of all slavers. The identity of this woman is yet to be established... More than two dozen slavers have been attacked or sunk in the past few months. This intense disruption of our trade is already creating difficulties in Jamaica and Port-au-Prince, where the slave markets had to be closed several weeks in a row for the lack of new merchandise.
 * -|Letter to mother 1=
 * -|Letter to mother 2=
 * -|Slaver log=
 * -|Official warning=
 * -|Navy report 1=
 * -|Navy report 2=

The wide world
November 1679. Mister Denis Papin's address to the Royal Society has created quite the turmoil. His steam digester is a well-crafted and tightly shut cylinder that heats water to boiling point, thus cooking what has been placed as its content. Described as "a brutal cooking process", this invention can yield precious observations about the nature of many elements... There seems to be much promise in steam machines... The recent bankruptcy of the Compagnie Plastrier, and its financial rescue by a group of French and Swiss bankers (who promptly renamed it Compagnie Dagincourt) has shed new light on the economic prospects of glass-manufacturing activities in France. This business endeavor was actually saved by the royal patents and the legal monopoly granted by the King. I am utterly astonished by the work of my countryman Isaac Newton. The second edition of Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica has been made available to me and I am still trying to wrap my mind around the revolutionary ideas contained in this work, especially the law of univeral gravitation and its application to the system of the world. From an apple to the motions of entire planets in the solar system... To understand political power right, and derive it from the original, we must consider what state all men are naturally in, that is, a state of perfect freedom to order their actions and dispose of their possessions and persons, as they think fit, within the bounds of law and nature, without asking leave, or depending upon the will of any other man. Monsieur Richer's measurements of the planet Mars during its perihelic opposition has been crucial in our calculations of an estimated distance between the two planets. We believe that these precious findings will now allow us to calculate the distance between Earth and the Sun. Furthermore, mister Newton has confirmed a change of the gravitational force at this geographical position near the equator... My latest voyage to the territories of the West Indies at the request of His Majesty King Louis has been most eventful. After prolonged stays in Guadeloupe and Martinique, I have journeyed to Saint-Domingue and Brazil where I have discovered and sketched more than a hundred new plants. Among them, I have finally found a wild specimen of the Aztecs' dark flower... Vanilla...
 * -|Scientific journal=
 * -|Business letter=
 * -|Pamphlet=
 * -|Locke's writings=
 * -|Letter to the Academy of Sciences=
 * -|Naturalist account=

Modern texts












Super ships












???












Edward Thatch (Blackbeard)












Benjamin Hornigold