Left Behind

1, 19 - Robert Witterel, Abigail Hoscut Witterel

A boy transitions from adolescence to adulthood in the absence of both of his parents. They were lost to the sea, his grandparents explained to him. The sea beckons to him, calling for him to search for them within her vast expanses.

"Don't answer that call," his grandmother begs him. "We've already lost enough to that vile abyss."

The boy continues to stare out at the eternally rolling waves, not knowing who to listen to.

2 - William Hoscut

Someone knocks on a door. A man answers it.

"This is the residence of William Hoscut, correct?" asks a stranger in a naval uniform.

"That's correct, sir."

"Who are you, then?"

The man bites his lip. "Oh, nothing more than a.. uh, groundskeeper, sir."

"Might you know who Mr. Hoscut's next of kin is? Our records show him as being unmarried."

"...His parents, perhaps. Though from what I understand he hasn't spoken to them in quite a long time."

"I see. Thank you for your time."

The man closes the door, glad that the visitor left when he did. It'd be hard to answer questions with the tears in his eyes.

3 - Edward Nichols

A woman walks down the street, passing by a flyer pasted on a shop window. Lost at Sea, 1803, the top reads. She feels around for the wedding band resting at the bottom of her purse, as her eyes continue to search the flyer. Crew 51 men. She prays a perverse prayer, hoping that that bastard, out of any of those fifty-one, is the one to never return home alive.

4 - Martin Perrott

"Great uncle Martin is missing." A woman announces to her daughter with tears in her eyes.

The girl does not cry as her mother does. She didn't know great uncle Martin all that well; she'd only seen him from a middle distance, engaging in conversations with other folks during family gatherings. She'd been told time and time again that he was a great person, with a heart of gold and a will of iron. But she hardly knew him herself. She wishes she could cry, if not for Martin, then for her mother, to show that she cares. But she cannot.

5 - John Davies

"East India Company office, is this?"

"Yes it is, sir. What brings you here today?"

"Saw this." The man slides the flyer onto the desk, towards the secretary who is already quite familiar with its contents. "Says at the bottom to come here for enquiries or testimony and so, here I am, with an enquiry. You see, my little brother happens to be one of the officers on that ship. Name's John Davies? Third or fourth mate or some such? Sound familiar at all?"

"Yes, I believe I recall seeing such a name on the manifest."

"Well.. I shan't get into the details of it at the moment— it's really quite a tragic tale— but both of our parents died a number of years back, and we've no other siblings left except each other. He never got married either, poor bastard. So, if I'm correct.. that means I'm the one entitled to his estate.. yes? I mean— if anything unfortunate happened to him, God forbid."

"Yes, that's right, sir."

"Excellent."

"Will that be all...?"

"Yes, for now. Have a nice day." The man swipes up the flyer and slithers out of the office.

6 - Alfred Klestil

A young man steps into a room that has long sat empty. His hope has died. Time to get rid of the things that belong to a man who isn't returning home. He begins his work by opening up the armoire and dumping out all of the clothes inside into a pile. Then he moves onto the desk drawers, pulling one open to find a thick ream of papers sitting within. For some reason, it catches the young man's attention, and he begins to flip through the pages. It's.. a story. Fiction sprung straight from the mind of his missing father, excellent fiction no less. The man reads through all of it right then and there, sat down on the floor. His father never gave so much as a hint that he enjoyed writing; in fact, he seemed the exact opposite of a 'creative type'. He never knew this side of him existed at all. It absolutely transfixes him. He stands up in a rush, and begins to sift through the rest of the furniture in the room. How many more pieces of his father will he find?

7 - Charles Miner

There is an apartment in Southwark, London. The door is white, and the bricks are greenish grey. The furnishings within are simple and well-used. Tucked away in one dresser is a tattered old flag, brought over from the lone resident's country of birth. Stuffed in the drawers of a desk are numerous letters the resident received from all sorts of people. There are a number of drawings and paintings hanging on the walls, all by different artists from around the world. One of these is a portrait of the resident's dear friend, Mr. Klestil. A small section of the wall in the kitchen is stained a faint pink, from when the resident had bashed a bottle of wine against it in an attempt to open it.

Traces of a life can be found in every corner of this apartment, and yet it is empty, and will remain as such until the Bank of England wraps its talons 'round and claims it for itself once more.

8 - Henry Evans

One woman is not alarmed to learn that the Obra Dinn has gone missing. She learned at a young age that her father had a propensity for vanishing from her life, disappearing off into the far-off reaches of the Earth, only to come back home again as if he had merely gone into the city center for a day's work at the office. He is an atypical man, living an atypical life, and she understands that something such as a ship being lost at sea is inconsequential to whatever strange adventures he embarks on.

9 - James Wallace

Dear Father,

Where

I hope

I'll be honest, I've been staring at this piece of paper for half an hour, struggling to think of what to say to you. It's truly unlike any situation I've ever been in before; it's indescribable. But I figured I should just start writing now, so that perhaps something will finally come to me.

I think it still hasn't quite fully dawned on me, yet. I'm trying to wrap my head around it. The ship you're on, the Obra Dinn, has been "lost at sea." What's happened to you? Did the navigator lose his way? Did you merely get caught up in some poor trade winds? Did you get kill captured by a foreign navy? I wish you could just tell me the answer, but I know you cannot. But it's alright. I'm sure you'll find your way again, whatever happened to you. Then you can tell me what adventures prolonged your return.

In the meantime, keep doing what you do best: taking care of others.

10 - Winston Smith

"Mama?"

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"Where do people go when they die?"

"They go up to live in Heaven with God, baby."

"Is that where Daddy is?

"Er—" Why is it that children are the ones to ask the most difficult questions? Might as well just answer honestly. No point in shielding him from a truth he'll have to learn eventually. "I don't know. No one knows where he is... Maybe not even God Himself."

11 - Marcus Gibbs

"Dear, what do you think ever became of Marcus?"

"I don't think about him."

"B-but he's our son. Don't you ever wonder?"

"That boy ain't my son anymore. Not ever since he left."

12 - Thomas Sefton

A young woman opens up a window to let the smoke building up within her kitchen billow out into the air outside. Coughing, she sets aside her hand cloth and rubs her head in frustration. She wishes regretfully that she paid more attention when her father taught her how to cook.

13 - Emil O'Farrell

A young man sighs as he walks away from the pasture, medical kit in hand. His father's profession had always unnerved him, even in spite of his warm disposition. He claimed that the slaughter was humane, but... the sounds some of them made, the way some of them struggled... How could any part of that be humane? And so, to rebel against this, the man took to studying veterinary medicine. Better to spend his time helping animals instead, right?

But no. All the man does is keep the livestock alive for just a little longer, until other men like his father can come along to slaughter them.

14 - Christian Wolff

A teenage boy arrives home after school. He gives a quiet hello to his mother then slips into a room that is not his own. He walks past a bookshelf coated in a thin layer of dust, past a case containing military decorations adorned with cobwebs, and to the desk sitting in front of a window. Faint sunlight leaks in through the silken curtains, illuminating the specks of dust floating through the air.

The boy takes down a musket hanging on the wall and turns it over in his hands a few times. This musket was used to win three wars, he remembers his father telling him. Cautiously, he adjusts his grip and aims it at a wall. What is it like to fire such a powerful weapon? What is it like.. to kill? His father surely must have killed at least one man in those three wars he fought in. ...How many lives had he taken? ...Did they leave behind families that cared about them, the same as what had happened to him, his siblings, and his mother?

The boy lowers the gun, and returns it to its place on the wall. He leaves the room, vowing not to enter it again.

15 - Olus Wiater

"Miłość, I've got terrible news." A man says with a wavering voice.

"What is it?"

"M-my father. He was on that ship that went missing."

"The Obra Dinn?"

"Yes." The man swallows back a sob.

"...Oh. I'm sorry, dear."

"You.. you don't seem that upset at all."

"I don't..? Perhaps it's just because I'm tired. I hope your father is alright, really."

In truth, the woman could not care less. That man always unsettled her anyways.

16 - Duncan McKay

Everything that comes to Orkney does so in a slow trickle. The steam engine arrived on the islands six years after it had been invented. The news of the Napoleonic Wars came after a thousand lives had already been lost to them. So when a bookkeeper is made aware that the ship his son was on had gone missing, it's no surprise to him that it had already happened two years ago. Even then it is of little consequence to him; he hasn't heard a word from the lad after he set off to work for the Company nearly a decade ago.

17 - Finley Dalton

"It went.. missing? That's it?"

"Yes, son. I've already told you."

The young man shakes his head subtly. He isn't sad, instead he's... disappointed. Wasn't it his father's job to keep the ship heading in the right direction? It seemed like a simple enough task, and other crew always said he performed it well, so how could he suddenly screw up so badly like this?

"Do you want to talk about it?" The woman asks.

"No. I'm fine." The man stands up and walks away from the table, leaving the woman alone.

18 - Edward Spratt

A frail old woman receives a letter.

As the next of kin to Edward Spratt, you are entitled to claim the outstanding wages he earned onboard the Obra Dinn during its final, doomed voyage, totaling £50. Please visit the HEIC London Office to claim it.

"Who's Edward?..." She asks the letter. Her glazed eyes pass over a wall covered in oil paintings as she considers the question. Eventually she throws the letter away, having failed to remember the answer.

20 - Nunzio Pasqua

A man looks out to the sea. His father is somewhere out there with that violin of his, finally embarking on the adventure he always dreamed of. He sighs wistfully, hoping he's enjoying his voyage, wherever it ends up taking him.

21 - Emily Jackson

A man wakes up in his bed and glances over to the woman sleeping next to him. He smiles a nasty, shit-eating grin to himself. That ship going missing was so much easier and cheaper than a divorce ever would've been.

22 - Miss Jane Bird

"My girl, my little girl.." A man holds his face in his palms, staining them with salty tears.

A woman sits beside him, draping an arm over his shoulder. "Honey, it's.. it's only been declared lost. There's still a chance she can come home."

"No, no, no..." He shakes his head. "They never do.. I've heard the stories before. They're all the same... She's dead."

"We can't give up hope, not yet. If the ship still sails, if our little songbird is alright, she'll come home to us. I know it."

23 - Bun-Lan Lim

"Your majesty..?"

"Yes? You may speak."

"The ship carrying the princess has failed to arrive in port on time. We believe it may be lost at sea."

"So the shell is gone then?"

"..Presumably."

The emperor pinches the bridge of his nose, sighing deeply. "Should've known this would happen." He mutters to himself.

"Shall I write up a declaration of the loss?"

"No." The emperor snaps. "The people don't need to know of her failures. It would only serve to raise doubts against my authority. Let her existence quietly fade from their memories. Do you understand?"

The advisor nods slowly.

"You are dismissed."

"...Thank you, your majesty."

24 - It-Beng Sia

Someone knocks on the door. Reluctantly, a woman answers it. Waiting outside are a pair of soldiers. They ask her to come with them. She wants to ask why, but knows she would not get an answer from them, for they likely wouldn't even know the purpose of their mission. She follows them to the throne room. She is taken before the emperor, who gives her the vague, unsatisfying answers she expects. Her husband almost certainly failed the sacred duty that was bestowed upon him, she is told. As retribution, she is to be expelled from her home within the imperial palace. She again wants to ask why, but knows she would not get an answer from him, for he wouldn't want such knowledge to hurt his reputation.

25 - Chioh Tan

For the younger of the two guards' shortcomings, there is no one to punish. He came from nothing, and so nothing inherits him.

26 - Hok-Seng Lau

Those close to the older of the two guards were cast from the capital city, never to return. It will not be easy, to go to a life outside the city, to a life of subsistence farming but they will adapt in the end. That is where they came from, after all, before Hok-Seng was selected for the duty which he ultimately failed.

27 - Zungi Sathi

Two women sip from their cups of Darjeeling tea.

"Is the temperature fine?" One asks.

"It's perfect, yes, thank you. You prepare it just as we do in India."

"Thank you. Zungi taught me the proper technique."

"Ah, of course."

"..."

"...I hope they come back."

"..Yes, I do too."

"......"

"If you need any help, know that I'm always available for you, alright? We'll make it through this together."

"Thank you for offering, I appreciate it."

An awkwardness hangs in the air. They decided to meet for the purpose of discussing their hardships, but neither are brave enough to do so. They quietly finish their tea, and one leaves the home of the other with little fanfare.

28 - Fillip Dahl

A young boy wanders into a room in his home that his family seldom enters. Immediately, something sitting in a corner catches his eye. He approaches the item and picks it up. It's a horse, carved from wood and colored with a brilliant, glowing red. It's the perfect size for his small hands, and so he sits down on the floor and begins to play with it, imagining that a heroic knight occupies its painted-on saddle.

Vad gör du här, son? | What are you doing here, son?" A man asks, poking his head into the doorway.

"Jag hittade en häst. | I found a horse."

"Nej, nej, du borde inte vara här. Kom igen. | No, no, you shouldn't be in here. Come on."

"Varför inte? | Why not?"

"Detta är din farfars rum. Du ska inte röra med hans tillhörigheter. | This is your grandpa's room. You shouldn't mess with his belongings." The man removes the horse from the boy's hands and returns it to the corner.

The boy sighs, dejected, and follows the man out into the hallway. He looks at the horse for as long as he can before the man closes the door again.

29 - Paul Moss

"Hello." A woman says as she exits her home.

"Good afternoon." Her neighbor greets back.

After several minutes of walking along crowded, cobbled streets, the woman reaches her destination. She shields her eyes as she looks out to the brigade of ships clinging to the harbor. Still no sign of the one with the distinct sails, sewn together from alternating bands of fabric. No sign of him. She finds the bench, the same one she always goes to, and sits down. She continues to look into the horizon, hoping to find a speck wading in, from distant, cruel waters. As the sun slips away from the city and the temperature declines, she takes off her hat and rests it on her lap. A strong gust of wind blows it away from her, and she goes off to chase it. A helpful seaman manages to catch the thing and returns it to her.

"What is such a lovely lady doing in a horrid place like this?" He says before mustering up his most charming smile.

"Waiting. Waiting for my love."

30 - Samuel Galligan

A woman stares at a flyer. She cries no tears to learn that her husband has been lost at sea. Why should she? She knows he loved those wretched waters more than he loved her anyway.

31 - Roderick Andersen

A man and a woman sit at a table, trying their best to keep their anguish from showing. One of the butlers comes by to pour them each another glass of wine. He hates to think it, but he can only find himself relieved that the little brat probably won't be coming back.

32 - Davey James

"I'm sorry.." A woman breathes out between sobs. "I'm so sorry.."

"Why are you apologizing, darling? It isn't your fault."

"Y-yes, it is.."

"No, no it's not. You couldn't have done anything to prevent this. It's out of our control. It.. it was fate."

"I was the one who told him to work on those awful ships! It was m-my idea, me! And now.. we lost him, we lost him forever..." Her face is red and wet with tears. "He.. he deserved a childhood... A good, proper childhood... And I stole it away from him and sent him to his own death.. It-It's all my fault! Oh God..."

The man stays silent as he brings the woman into a hug, because in the deepest reaches of his soul, he knows she's right.

33 - Peter Milroy

A woman wails in mourning, a crumpled flyer clutched tight in her hands. She can't find any words, feeling as though her whole world is collapsing around her. The oldest of five children pulls the remaining three into a tight hug, assuring them all that their brother will return home one day.

34 - Thomas Lanke

A young steward returns from a voyage to learn that his older brother's ship has been declared lost at sea. He wanders out into the hallway one nightmare-infested, grief-stricken night, heading for his parents' bedroom. Clutching onto the doorknob, he overhears one say to the other, "We can't let him falter like Thomas had. That boy alone has already done enough to hurt our reputation." The boy's grip on the knob loosens, and he resolves to return to his room. The words echo through his mind over and over as he tries again to fall asleep.

35 - Charles Hershtik

A woman wakes up. She gets out of bed. She eats breakfast. She sits in a chair in the parlor, staring at nothing. Her family eats lunch in the dining room, where two seats are left empty. Her family eats dinner, and still two seats are empty. She goes upstairs to get ready for bed. She lies down. She goes to sleep.

A woman wakes up.

36 - Omid Gul

A woman is married to a reckless man. 'Brave' is what he liked to call it. Wherever he is, whatever he's doing that's prolonging his return, she hopes that he's being careful and safe for the first time in his life, the time when it's the most important.

37 - Timothy Butement

"I wanna be like Dad when I grow up." A boy states proudly.

The hairs on the back of his mother's neck stand up. "Do you now, dear?"

"Yah, it seems so fun to be able to travel the world for a living!"

His mother grabs hold of the flyer sitting on the table before her. She takes a deep breath. "..Actually son, there's something I need to tell you. About your father."

38 - Huang Li

A woman walks past a flyer exclaiming that a ship is lost at sea, not even taking notice that it is there. She learned how to speak the language used in this country easily enough, though not how to read it. And so her life goes on, wondering why her husband has failed to return home. That wondering turns to fear. Had he abandoned her for someone else? Had he died? Gone missing? She could not know.

39 - Jie Zhang

Off of one ship, onto another. A poor immigrant's work is never over. A man spends so much time away from his home that he hasn't even realized that the person he shares it with has been missing for years. He works away on the Company ships, sailing the seas, while that person's body rots away fathoms below him.

40 - Li Hong

A woman feels nothing when she learns that her son has been lost at sea. She expects herself to cry, or to become angry, but there is nothing; her face is a stone as a statue's. Weeks go by and still there's nothing. Not even a single tear shed. She begins to hate herself, questioning how she doesn't even feel sorrow for the loss of her boy. She begins to hate her husband, jealous that he can cry for the thing that they both lost. She even begins to hate her son, for leaving her in such an alien, uncomfortable existence.

41 - Wei Lee

Four hundred years of familial sailing tradition. Sixteen generations of men travelling across the world's waters. All put to an end when that young man disappeared without leaving behind a son. "How disappointing," his father thinks.

42 - Nicholas Botterill

A man and his family live an uneventful life in the town of Yarmouth. "My brother hasn't written me a letter recently," he reflects in passing. He thinks nothing of it, knowing how quiet of a man his brother tended to be.

43 - Maba

A woman stares out pensively into the wilderness surrounding her village. Things have been hard, ever since the young man left to become a sailor. But she knows he's happier that way. That life offers much more freedom than what exists here.

44 - Lewis Walker

A slender cat with faded orange fur rubs against the leg of a young man. The man reaches down and scratches it between its ears. The cat has always been left in his care when its owner is away at sea, which, as it turns out, is most of the time. But this time, it is different. The man knows that. After a ship is declared lost at sea, it's nigh impossible for it to return back with all its men, still in the same state they were in before they left. The cat jumps into his lap, curls up, and begins to purr to itself as it drifts off to sleep. The man sighs, and pets the animal absent-mindedly. No matter how long he may have to take care of the creature, it will still belong to the man lost at sea.

45 - Leonid Volkov

"Ah, hello—"

"Please. I don't have time for greeting."

"Oh, alright. What's the problem?"

"Can you keep this for me?"

The woman puts an envelope into her friend's hand. He looks down at it to see a word written in a script he cannot read.

"Uh.. sure, sure."

"You give to my husband when he comes back."

"Why can't you give it to him yourself?"

"Because.. I have to go."

"Where?"

"...Away from this place. Best of luck to you... Goodbye."

46 - Alarcus Nikishin

A woman runs her fingers along a small wolf figurine whittled from wood. She's done it so many times before that the rough, splinter-y edges have been worn smooth. At this point, she remembers the curves and ridges of the little carving better than she can remember the face of the man who gave it to her. Somehow, she can't bring herself to miss him, nor hate him for leaving her behind in Russia. She wonders how he's doing, wherever he is.

47 - Aleksei Toporov

The dazzling, kaleidoscopic colors of Saint Basil's Cathedral stand out starkly against the dreary whites and greys of a Russian winter. The residents of Moscow walk along the streets, unbothered by the bitter cold. They go about their lives, uncaring to the fact that one man from the city has vanished off the face of the Earth. No one's lives have been hurt by his disappearance. The city still lives. It is almost as though he never existed at all.

48 - Nathan Peters

A little girl plays with a doll while her mother watches.

"Why don't I have a papa like everyone else?" She asks, but doesn't turn her attention away from her toy.

"You do have one."

"Then where is he?"

"He's.. he's on an adventure, darling. He'll come home one day."

"What kind of adventure?"

The woman looks at the window, but not at what lies beyond it. "...I'll tell you about it when you're older."

"Mum, look, I braided her hair." The girl holds up the doll for her mother to see.

"...That's wonderful, darling."

49 - Lars Linde

"Mor. | Mama."

No reply from the woman sitting at a desk and staring out a window.

"Mor. | Mama." The child repeats, tugging at the skirt of the woman.

"Åh, hvad er det? | Oh, what is it?"

"Hvis du kunne være et hvilket som helst dyr, hvad ville du så vælge? | If you could be any animal, what would you choose?"

The woman thinks for a moment. "En fugl. | A bird."

"Hvorfor? | Why?"

"Fordi så... jeg kunne se hele verden med mine egne øjne. | Because then... I could see the whole world with my own eyes."

50 - John Naples

A stray dog trots along the edge of the harbor. It enjoys spending time there; the sailors passing through were always fairly generous in their head pats and belly rubs, and on a good day, treats, too. But the dog adored no sailor more than the bald old man with the striped pants. His presence could instantly send the dog's tail into a blurry, wagging mess.

But then, he stopped appearing. First, it was a year without setting foot in the port. Then that became two years. Then three.

The dog's hope never fades; such a simple creature's ability to hope is impervious to all things that could kill a man's. Even when the fur upon its face has turned white, its vision has gone cloudy, and it can only move itself along on old, arthritis-riddled legs, it never stops hoping that the man will return for it one day.

51 - Renfred Rajub

Two lascars sit down to eat a cold, unappetizing meal in a dark, overcrowded dining hall.

"क्या आपने सुना है कि जहाजों में से एक लापता हो गया? | Did you hear that one of the ships went missing?"

"मैंने किया। | I did."

"मुझे आश्चर्य है कि यहां से कोई भी उस पर था। | I wonder if anyone from here was on it."

"मैं भी करता हूं। | I do too."

"अगर वहाँ था, मुझे आशा है कि जहाज यहाँ वापस नहीं आएगा। | If there was, I hope the ship doesn't come back here."

"तुमने ऐसा क्यों कहा? | Why do you say that?"

"क्योंकि तब उन्हें इस जीवन में वापस नहीं आना पड़ेगा। | Because then, he would not have to return to this life."

52 - Abraham Akbar

A woman reluctantly opens the door to the pantry, already knowing what she will see on the other side. One lone, half-empty bag of flour sits on the floor. She does not know where she will find the money to buy another one. But she'll find it, somehow.

53 - William Wasim

Looking from the streets, one apartment appears to be uninhabited. No figures stir in the windows, no one emerges from the door. But there is someone within. She isn't trapped and yet she never leaves her house. She is terrified. Just one step beyond those four walls and the truth of what happened might reach her. Better to wait in warmth and safety for the man she's waiting for to come through the door and announce his return.

54 - Soloman Syed

A woman walks home after being invited over for tea. She steps inside and sighs. She starts a fire in the oven, pours water into a kettle, and puts it on to boil. She's making more tea. She doesn't know why; but it's so ingrained into her routine that she has to follow through with it. A rigid routine is the only thing grounding her in the terrifying, uncharted waters she's wading through.

55 - Hamadou Diom

"Hamadou Diom, originally from Siera Leona, immigrated in 1800, employed as a seaman, spiked by a.. beast?... outstanding wages and reward totaling £25." A man reads aloud the information he sees on a paper. "Oh.. no known relatives residing in the United Kingdom." He frowns at the paper in his hand. "What do we do with his wages, then?"

"They get donated to a pension fund. Put his file back and move onto the next bloke. We've only got a few more left."

"..That's it? We aren't going to make any effort to find out if he's got family elsewhere?"

"No, it'd be a waste of our time and resources."

"Well, that's quite sad, don't you think? No one to let know that he's died?"

"Can't let yourself get morose about this, Brown. It only slows you down."

"..Right, sorry. Numbers... Just think of them as numbers.. like you said."

The insurance workers stay silent for the remainder of their work, reading the profiles of dead, faceless men and writing letters for those they left behind by flickering candlelight.

56 - Henry Brennan

A woman stares up at the ceiling as she lies in her bed, thinking. Henry told her many lies throughout their time together. Some she could see right away, others only came to light after it came to bite them in the ass. But they were always told with the best of intentions. The life they lived was a hard one, and he was only doing his best to protect her from the harsh truths of it.

"I'll be fine, trust me."

That was the one lie that she so desperately wants to be true, out of all of the ones he told. But with each day that passes with the ship not in harbor, it becomes less and less believable.

57 - Alexander Booth

"Dear our Lord in Heaven.. the most horrible news has reached me. The Obra Dinn.. it went missing, it didn't show at the time it was supposed to. My boy, my sweet baby boy, was on that ship... I.. I know it's wrong of me to ask this of you.. But please.. please just bring him home for me. I hope you can somehow put that into your greater plan. I.. I don't care how long it takes. I don't care if it takes ten years for him to come home. I can be patient. I can keep waiting."

58 - Patrick O'Hagan

A rowdy, laughing group of ruddy-faced men chat over a few drinks.

"Aye, what do ya ever think happened to that O'Hagan fellow?" One asks.

"Who?"

"That young sailor lad, Patrick.. ya know I heard he was on that ship that went missin' a couple o' years back."

"Agh, those English bastards. They probably had their heads so far up their own arses they steered that ship right into a sea stack!"

The men cheer, a few of them clinking together their mugs. The conversation turns to hurling yet more insults against the English, and thoughts of the missing young man slip from their minds.

59 - George Shirley

The Shirleys were dealt a bad hand. That's what everyone says when they come up in conversation. George had great ambitions, wanted to travel the world and leave each place better than how he found it. Helping others was his greatest drive in life. But being born to a coal miner doesn't allow one to carry out such lofty goals. And so he made do with being a sailor, trying to make things better for his fellow crew members in whatever ways he could. That's what his wife reminds herself of as she awaits his return. Wherever he is, he is doing good deeds. She knows this to be absolutely true.

60 - Samuel Peters

A child leaves behind a drawing on the floor as his mother calls for dinner. It depicts his father, with a daring smirk on his face and a sword in his hand. On the opposite side of the paper is a hoard of swashbuckling pirates, being easily fended off by the child's father. That's why the Obra Dinn is lost at sea. They've just got to fight off some pirates and they'll be home again. All sixty of them.