20 Minor Features of a Sunken Wreck
During their exploration of a sunken ship, the characters will encounter many minor features of note.
Use this list, to add depth and flavour to their explorations:
An octopus lairs within the ship after barely squeezing through the largest hole in the hull. The octopus contentedly eats fish swimming within reach of its tentacles. When presented with humanoid threats, it sprays ink and attempts to push through the hull to escape. Feeding fish to the octopus calms it.
The well-preserved corpse of a seabird is nailed face up on the deck. Fish avoid the bird. A character knowledgeable about birds and marine life identifies it as an albatross.
The ship’s bowsprit figurehead is a decapitated mermaid. The top of the head is visible just above the sand 10 feet beyond the wreck.
A crew member’s foot is lodged in a plank. The corpse still holds a mop, and the current gives the impression that the bloated corpse still swabs the deck.
Crabs scuttle through the wreck, feeding on the remains of the bodies buried at sea. The creatures raise their claws menacingly at intruders but amble away at aggressive posturing by those larger than themselves.
The ship’s cannon are loaded and ready to fire. The water prevents most of them from discharging, but an improvising sort could devise a waterproof way to relight a cannon.
The ship’s hold contains rotting bales of wheat and other foodstuffs. Investigating the ship’s manifest reveals the food was to be delivered to a town wrecked by famine.
Yowling emanates from a closet belowdecks. Upon opening the closet, which was sealed from the water, an unhappy cat struggles to swim in the water.
The bodies of press-ganged prisoners remain chained to their rowing stations, with some floating just above the boards upon which they sat. Notably, none of the voluntary crew seem to have gone down with the ship.
Stacks of lumber fill the cargo hold from floor to roof, leaving little room to manoeuvre. Eels reside in the lumber and aggressively defend their homes.
The ship bears sails belonging to one nation or region, but the hold contains sails belonging to an opposing nation or region. The ship sunk in waters controlled by the location matching the sails it currently displays but less than two miles from water contested by both states.
The captain’s quarters is the scene of a mutiny. Several crew members and the captain have wounds consistent with the rapiers and sabres dropped to the floor nearby the bodies. It is unclear when the wreck occurred in relation to the mutiny.
Severed tentacles litter the ship’s deck and cargo hold. The tentacles belong to various species of squid and octopodes, as well as other unidentifiable creatures. Each tentacle thrashes around when a warm-blooded creature moves within two feet of it.
Explorers discover navigational charts in the ship’s wheelhouse. Anyone knowledgeable about geography or seafaring notices the charts are good for sea travel hundreds of leagues away from the wreck’s location.
Large bells, suitable for a cathedral or clock tower, shifted in the hold when the ship went down. The pile of bells is unstable and crashes when carelessly disturbed or through nearby violent activity. The resultant wave carries sound a couple hundred feet away from the ship.
The captain’s quarters contains a shrine dedicated to a deity associated with travel, on land and on sea. Though the rest of the quarters remains undisturbed apart from the ship sinking, someone has defaced the shrine. Whether this was done before, during or after the ship’s sinking is impossible to say.
A grisly scene awaits those who explore belowdecks: the captain and several of the crew were hanged from the top of the hold. Some of the bodies have floated free of their nooses after the ship went down. Investigation of any of the free-floating corpses reveals signs of strangulation.
The ship has a pair of life rafts and several life preservers, but none of them saw any use because of the shipwreck. Searching the wreck discovers the remains of the captain and the full crew complement, who seem not to have sustained any wounds before the ship sank.
All the fresh water contained within barrels and waterskins is laced with a hallucinogenic drug. Searching the ship reveals several vials containing the drug’s residue. Someone deliberately dosed the water once the ship has set sail.
A dozen cages, all intended to transport an animal or other creature no larger than a medium-sized dog, all hang open, but not through force. Though fur and feathers demonstrate the cages held cargo on part of the journey, there are no signs of their captives on or near the ship.
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This article is an extract from 20 Things #62: Sunken Ship by Mike Welham. Alternatively, check out the 20 Things Archive for more handy, flavoursome and time-saving 20 Things articles ready for immediate use in your campaign.
