Prologue
1721.
Waves crash violently against the equally ravenously rocky shores of Ransack Island, hideaway of pirate Captain Burtram Graves and his crew of The Cursed Driftwood. Their name was infamous in the Mediterranean Sea for hundreds of ships they plundered and left to rot and drift away, either found by other ships on that route or by the few that somehow found their way back to shore, earning him the nickname of ‘Gravestone’ as he would essentially turn the ships into the crew’s coffins.
Ransack Island, originally a gold mining operation used during the War of Spanish Succession discovered by the English seven years prior to Captain Gravestone taking the island for himself, became the main base of operations for not just the crew of The Cursed Driftwood but also the crews of the other ships in Graves’ fleet he had amassed over the years. Eventually being opened to other pirate crews.
The English had kept the island, as well as the operation, a secret and only a select few knew of its existence, they used convicts and slaves to mine the gold. The English knew they would not be able to spread knowledge of the island and killed any that tried to escape, just as many threw themselves in the hungry ocean after weeks of exhaustion and terrible work conditions. Because so many were being shipped over, Captain Graves’ was lucky enough to happen on a ship heading there with mining supplies and learn of its whereabouts.
Burtram, when regarding the whereabouts of Ransack Island was just as secretive as any ship, Pirates, English or otherwise, were all plundered and destroyed by the patrol ships Graves’ had established to circle the island. Those supplies were then used on the island to provide better living quarters and environment for the convicts and slaves who were now a part of the Captain’s still ever growing fleet. To keep his men keep mining, he told them when all of it had been mined he would split it evenly among everyone.
Finally after a few years, the mining was completed and that meant celebrations with the entire fleet being on the island, supposedly having drunk and partied for days on end, when the crews of all the ships awoke from their hangovers to enjoy their share, both the gold and the crew of The Cursed Driftwood were gone. To ensure they stayed on the island all of the ships in the fleet were burned, destroyed or exploded. To this day, Captain Gravestone and the gold of Ransack Island have never been found.