Shipwreck

Shipwreck is both the specific opening location of Windrose (where the player washes up after Blackbeard sinks their ship in the prologue) and the generic name for shipwreck POIs scattered across the world. The prologue Shipwreck is the setting for the first several story beats and a recurring reference point during early-game quests.

The Starting Island Shipwreck

The player character starts the game as a survivor of a shipwreck tied to the British East India Company courier job that opens the story. The wrecked vessel sits on the beach of the starting island and is the anchor for the earliest quests:

• How My Shore Adventure Began - the first main quest, which starts with the player character waking up on the beach and works through basic survival goals before the first crew member joins up.

• Fifteen Men on a Dead Man's Chest - curio chain whose opening Blurry Sketch piece is found near the shipwreck.

• I Need a Bigger Boat - the quest that builds from the starting dinghy into the first combat-ready ship. Part of the investigation involves three shipwrecks that the player searches for parts and clues.

Shipwreck POIs Across the World

Beyond the starting island, shipwrecks appear across the Caribbean archipelago as a POI category. Each wreck can hold salvage (Wooden Planks, Copper Ingots, trade goods), a chest, or a quest-hook note. The wrecks are not always combat-free: plague-family enemies and patrolling undead are common near the bigger wrecks in the Cursed Swamps region.

During the three-shipwreck sequence of I Need a Bigger Boat, each investigated wreck contributes one piece to the build-your-first-ship narrative. Use the quest marker to find the correct three rather than guessing.

What Shipwrecks Contain

• Curios: quest-starting items such as the Blurry Sketch of the Island, which triggers Fifteen Men on a Dead Man's Chest.

• Materials: Coarse Fabric, Rope, Wood.

• Loot chests: Piastres, ammunition, occasional Elixirs and Healing Potions.

• Lore fragments: diary pages tying into Traveler's Journal Collection and the Marcel Boucher questline.

Notable Examples

Tips

• Run the coastal perimeter of every new island before venturing inland; wrecks are signposted by debris and beached hulls.

• Drop a Fast Travel Bell at any wreck you want to revisit; quest items sometimes require backtracking.

• Wrecks in deeper water may attract Drowner or Swollen Drowned ambushes.

See Also

• Starting Island - the tutorial island with the prologue shipwreck

• How My Shore Adventure Began - first main quest

• I Need a Bigger Boat - ship-progression quest

• Getting Started - first-hour survival guide