Hendrik's sea log

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Hendrik's sea log

In the early 18th century, the Dutch explorer Hendrik wrote a series of sea logs documenting his travels around Southeast Asia, particulalry his search for Angkor, the lost city of the Khmer Empire and an alleged Isu site. Because of the valuable information they contained, these logs would become the objects of interest of various factions who sought to find Angkor, all of which fought for possession of them upon Hendrik's death.

Owners

• Hendrik (author; ? – 1725)

First sea log

• Lee Huiyin (February 1725)
• Edward Kenway (February 1725)
• Shimazu Saito (1725)
• Sun (1725)
• Xiao Han (1725)

Second sea log

• Rajah (1725)
• Shimazu Saito (1725)
• Xue Yan (1725)

History

Background

Hendrik writing in his sea log

At some point prior to 1725, Hendrik began a search for Angkor, which was rumored to house Pieces of Eden, after meeting a monk in Cebu who told him about a similar search conducted by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan two centuries prior. During his journey, Hendrik kept a sea log in which he documented the progress of his search, so that he could return to Angkor at a later date.

After finding Angkor's Piece of Eden and being unable to retrieve it, Hendrik realized the artifact must not fall into the wrong hands and decided to conceal its location. He encrypted his sea log with a special cipher and split it into two halves, hiding the second half within Ferdinand Magellan's cross at the Basilica del Santo Niño in Cebu.

Meanwhile, the first half, which contained the cipher and a clue to the location of the second sea log, was taken by Hendrik to Macau, where the explorer attempted to persuade the Qing merchant Lee Huiyin to sponsor an expedition to Angkor. After she turned him down, Hendrik decided to keep the sea log in a bank safe in the city until he could find a way to return to Angkor.

First sea log

In February 1725, Hendrik was killed by the Templar Shimazu Saito's ninja followers, who sought to find Angkor and to silence anyone who knew about its existence. Shortly after Hendrik's death, Lee Huiyin purchased his sea log from the bank safe in Macau, intending to hold onto it as collateral. This caught the attention of the Templars, who approached Lee to demand the log, but she refused to give it to them.

Sun holding the first sea log

The Templars would eventually get their hands on the log after attacking Lee's private residence, the Mandarin's House, where Saito stole it from the Assassin Edward Kenway, who had also come for the log and had found it shortly before the attack. However, Edward managed to hold onto the log's cipher, forcing the Templars to begin looking for a codebreaker to decipher the journal.

Later, Saito was forced to give the sea log to the businessman Sun in exchange for his protection of the Templar's subordinates. Unable to find anyone to decipher the log, Sun reached out to his nephew Xiao Han, the Chinese Assassins' Mentor, who was familiar with the language used to encrypt the journal.

However, rather than help his uncle decode the log, Xiao Han took it for himself after killing Sun, intending to find Angkor and use its Piece of Eden to overthrow the Qing dynasty. Xiao Han later presented the sea log to Lee and convinced her to join forces to recover Angkor's treasure.

Meanwhile, Edward recruited Saito into his organization, the Zhang Wei Union, and she helped them decipher the log's contents, which she had memorized. Using the cipher acquired by Edward, Yun Pyeong-Gyu found a hidden message written by Hendrik, urging anyone who read the log to "follow in the footsteps of Ferdinand Magellan" to find the second clue to Angkor's location. Deducing they were meant to find Magellan's resting place, the Union members left Macau and sailed to the Philippines to continue their investigation.

Second sea log

Rajah reading the second sea log

In Manila, Edward encountered a monk who wielded a crescent amulet, a Piece of Eden. After being subjected to the amulet's powers, Edward experienced several visions, including one of Hendrik concealing something within Magellan's cross. Deducing this was the second clue they needed to find, the Union members left Manila and traveled to Cebu.

However, they were beaten to their destination by Rajah, the leader of a Visayan resistance against the Spanish colonists, who had stolen the crescent amulet and had also learned about Hendrik's second sea log. Infiltrating the Basilica del Santo Niño, Rajah killed all the priests inside and retrieved the log from Magellan's cross. He then ordered his men to set the cross on fire while he used the amulet to decipher the journal's contents, learning about the whereabouts of two other Pieces of Eden.

Due to his distrust of foreigners, Rajah gave the sea log to one of his men, unwililng to carry around a Dutch sailor's journal. After the rebels took over Fort San Pedro, they hid the log in an office, where Saito later searched for it while Edward battled Rajah.

After being unable to find the journal, Saito spotted a group of civilians fleeing with it and confronted them. The civilians promptly surrendered the log, and Saito returned to Edward to help him fight Xiao Han and his fellow Chinese Assassins, who had also arrived in Cebu. However, during the battle, Saito was overpowered by Xue Yan, who stole the sea log from her. After Edward used the amulet to defeat Xiao Han and Liu Qing, he and Saito were forced to escape, leaving the log in the Chinese Assassins' possession.

Behind the scenes

The markings inside the sea logs resemble characters found in the Isu script, implying that Hendrik used the language to encrypt his journals.

Gallery

Hendrik with one of his sea logs

Lee Huiyin acquiring the first sea log

The first sea log inside Lee's safe

Edward Kenway holding the sea log's cipher

Xiao Han reading the first sea log

The second sea log inside an office

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple