The Crimson Company (1902)

The Crimson Company is a historical event relating to the Vungus Expeditions.

## History

The most unsuccessful and violent expedition to Vungus, ended in death for most, and missing in action for all but 3. After the rediscovery of the island it was hard to continue exploration due to its nature to drift around, and when it was found storms often buffeted sailors till they had to give up. Finally however, in 1902 sufficient plans were made by another British explorer to truly chart the island for good. After the Lydia Theobakker got discovered she married one of her crew members after they had courted for a year at sea, newly wed Lydia Davies had children and eventually passed away. Her grandson Matthew Davies was determined to carry the family legacy and further push the discoveries made at Vungus. He explored for a couple of months before finding where the island had drifted off to. In an attempt to avoid the detection of the strange storm he and his men got in the smaller life boats and rowed the last few miles to shore, leaving a small crew behind to man the main ship for once they needed to return.

## Crimson Contact

Once the crew had successfully avoided the storm and landed they began to set up a camp on the shore. There was only one interaction with a Gungi Tribe, a medium sized Gungus was spotted watching the camp through some trees, the uneasy men wanted to shoo it away, but Captain Davies warned them against it. The Gungus eventually left its position and wasn't seen for a while. A week later in the middle of the night the crew was awoken by screams, the only distinguishing factor between the Gungi battle cries and the yells of dying men were that the Gungi had a strange rhythm to the chant, connected by their hivemind. Frantically, the men ran to the boats and started rowing towards the boat.

*"The Gungi didn't follow, for they must not have known how to swim. We were just getting far enough away to avoid the sticks being thrown by the tribesmen, when a mixture of a bird-like screech and the roar of a man broke the tension of oars on water. We briefly stopped the rowing and looked behind us to see Tungus, fire bursting from his mouth holding his war club with both hands and spinning it in a wide circle. Clouds billowed and the waves started pulling the boats further and further away from the ship. I jumped off like a coward and swam the rest of the way to the boat."* (Excerpt from the Journal of one of the only survivors).

￼ As the ships were pulled closer to the shore Tungus spouted fire at the crew and their vehicles. Men running away and back to see were being stopped by the abnormal waves, Gungi ran waist deep into the water and pulled men to shore, beating them with primitive weapons. Tungus was whirling the club in a battle rage causing desolation. Once all the crew were killed a storm hit the large ship waiting at sea, 3 passengers survived on a piece of driftwood and were eventually saved by local fishermen after 2 months of floating at sea.

It is unsure why the response to the explorers was so violent compared to the other expeditions, and lack of details on the event make it nearly impossible for researchers to figure out why.