EARTHQUAKE PORT ROYAL - T-ISLAND SCREENPLAY

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Captain Sir Henry Morgan was a pirate, and privateer, ending up as the Governor of Jamaica. He was buried at Palisadoes Cemetery, then Port Royal was washed into the Caribbean Sea, the result of an earthquake and tsunami. Not to be seen again for 300 years.

<<< SCENE 1

PRESENT DAY

Dark clouds gathered ominously, as a warning perhaps that a great disturbance was about to hit the Caribbean with immense force. Deep under the ocean, pressure had been building since the last significant movement of the Caribbean plate in June 1692, where Port Royal was literally subsumed, and swallowed up, almost whole. 

The earth does not have a stiff mantle, or lithosphere, but is rather a giant puzzle of constantly shifting plates. These tectonic plates move very gradually, typically a few centimeters per year, causing a huge amount of deformation at the plate boundaries, and pressure build up, which stresses lead to cracks called faults. A earthquake is the sudden movement of the earth's crust at a fault line.

The cause of the earthquake and tsunami that engulfed Port Royal in 1692 was the movement of the Gonâve Microplate along a strike-slip fault that forms the boundary between the Caribbean Plate and the North American Plate. The earthquake triggered a landslide that caused a section of the harbour to collapse into deeper water, generating a tsunami that destroyed most of the town. Another possible cause of the tsunami was a separate submarine landslide that occurred elsewhere along the coast. The earthquake also caused the soil to liquefy, making the buildings sink into the ground.

Port Royal never recovered from the disaster of 1692. After the earthquake, most of the survivors fled to the mainland, and the colonial government was relocated to Spanish Town. Port Royal was further devastated by a fire in 1703 and a hurricane in 1722. Most of the sea trade moved to Kingston, and by the late 18th century, Port Royal was largely abandoned. Today, Port Royal is a small fishing village and a historical site, with some of the sunken buildings still preserved underwater.

Caribbean governments were so busy dealing with climate events, and the sargassum plagues emanating wherefrom, that they gave little credence to claims from scientists, as to renewed seismic activity that may strike at any time.

Blue Shield was not so cavalier. It had taken years to get the submerged remains of the former pirate haven, onto a World Heritage Site, by way of a tentative listing. Who would be bold enough to survey the sunken city, amidst the frequent tremors.

The fear was that the buildings surveyed would be lost again, this time forever.

>>> SCENE 3

The last occasion of such drastic seismic activity occurred at the epicenter of the Caribbean plate in June of 1692.
 

Damn you for Villains, who are you? And, from whence came you? The Lieutenant made him Answer, You may see by our Colours we are no Pyrates. Black-beard bid him send his Boat on Board, that he might see who he was; but Mr. Maynard reply'd thus; I cannot spare my Boat, but I will come aboard of you as soon as I can, with my Sloop. Upon this, Black-beard took a Glass of Liquor and drank to him with these Words: Damnation seize my Soul if I give you Quarters, or take any from you. In Answer to which, Mr. Maynard told him, that he expected no Quarters from him, nor should he give him any.

PROLOGUE: ROYAL AFRICAN COMPANY - King Charles II, Royal Charter James Stuart II, transport goods from Africa: Bloody Triangle.

SCENE 1. THE BATTLE OF OCRACOKE - Lt Robert Maynard, Blackbeard's curse, beheading & torturous interrogation on the Adventure 

SCENE 2. EARTHQUAKE JAMAICA - Present Day - An earthquake hits Port Royal, disturbing the sunken city & Palisadoes cemetery.

SCENE 3. BLUE SHIELD ENGLAND - Blue Shield, Newcastle UK, UNESCO requests Storm catalogue underwater city UNEP World Heritage Site.

SCENE 4. HENRY MORGAN'S DEATH - Henry Morgan has a heart attack; funeral ceremony at Palisadoes cemetery, old Port Royal.

SCENE 5. SUNKEN CITY SURVEY - Present Day, Swann's sensors scan the ocean bed, revealing mausoleum former Governor of Jamaica.

SCENE 6. JUNE 1692 TSUNAMI - Jamaica, June 7th, an earthquake hits Port Royal, then a tsunami washes the pirate haven under the sea.

SCENE 7. HENRY MORGAN'S COFFIN - John Storm & ROV, comes face to face with Henry's skeletal remains. Finds interesting wooden engraving.

SCENE 8. BBC JILL BIRD - London. John Storm's finds lost Henry Morgan's pirate remains. "And for those of you wondering, there was no treasure."
SCENE 9. OPERATION HISPANIOLA - British Geographical Society, & Royal Navy fund Lord Huntington's expedition to recover relics in the Caribbean.

SCENE 10. SHIP'S COOK - William Gray helps John Long's cut-throats to crew for Huntington's Hispaniola, Long a dab hand on the galley.

SCENE 11. ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOS - Huntington (BGS bigwig) asks John Storm for help with shipwreck survey - meet in the Caribbean, Haiti.

SCENE 12. SKELETON ISLAND - Intrigued by map proffered by Lord Huntington, John agrees to switch attention to location, to coast of Panama. .

SCENE 13. SANTA CATALINA - Colombian, Mexican, Panamanian, Nicaraguan patrols re: 'Satisfaction' & hunt for Aztec gold, Spanish Conquistadors.

SCENE 14. TREASURE ISLAND - Hurricane Iota erased map clues, Isla Providencia. Longstride believes location of Blackbeard's/Morgan's treasure.

SCENE 15. KIDNAP - Black Jack & Billy Bones kidnap Dan, Cleopatra - lock in Hispaniola with Tremaine. Hal alerts John to events via BioCore.

SCENE 16. DOUBLE CROSS - Maynard pact with Spanish Navy to blockade Caribbean to capture John & Swann. Longstride deal Aztec Golden Skull.

SCENE 17. BLACKBEARD'S CURSE - John retakes Swann, Hal immobilizes Black Jack and Billy Bones and rescues prisoners on Hispaniola.

SCENE 18. MORGAN'S TREASURE SHIP - John deciphers carving code helped Dan and Cybercore Genetica. Dives to find privateer's shipwreck.

SCENE 19. BILLION DOLLAR DEAL - John negotiates with Panama, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador & Blue Shield for % salvage based on wreck video.

SCENE 20. BLOCKADE RUNNER - Swann navigates through Spanish Armada & Royal Navy blockade in stealth mode, invisible to radar.

SCENE 21. BERMUDA TRIANGLE - Pirates head into Bermuda Triangle, Colombian Navy in pursuit: BBC Sky News. Never to be seen again.

  EARTHQUAKE AT PORT ROYAL, JAMAICAN UNDERWATER LOST CITY, UNCOVERS HENRY MORGAN'S MAUSOLEUM - TREASURE ISLAND - BLACKBEARD'S CURSE & PIRATES GOLD

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