Rapture Timeline

This is a timeline based on the chronological events of There's Something in the Sea, based on information revealed rather than when events and updates happen in real time (our 2009 timeline). Relevant and possibly relevant information from BioShock will be included.

Please note that when specific months and days are not given, they are only known to occur within the specified year. They are not necessarily arranged in chronological order within that year.

1906
September 3: Orrin Oscar Lutwidge is (supposedly) born

1919
Andrew Ryan flees Russia in the wake of revolution; heads to United States

1946
James Millard Oakes disappears

Bridgette Tenenbaum disappears

Icelandic fishermen complain of "dead seas" and allege that oil slicks have killed off whole areas of the ocean

February 13 (presumed): Lutwidge Property Management declares fictitious business name

March 8: Liddell &amp; Lewis Publishers declares fictitious business name

April 5: Scarlet Sovereign declares fictitious business name

May 20: Scarlet Sovereign sends invoice to Warden Yarn for large amounts of steel

November 5: Rapture is finished

December: Dr. Suchong noted missing in Chinese paper

1947
Repeated equipment failures on commercial vessels; shipping routes are shifted quietly by NATO

A USAF C-47 "Skytrain" vanishes with 17 troops and 2 decorated pilots after a bizarre final radio call

A Child's Garden of Cyphers is published by Liddell &amp; Lewis

February: A number of Australians, including Kyburz, disappear from Turtle Bay

1948
Frank Fontaine arrives in Rapture

1952
December 19: Lutwidge Property Mgmt produces Statement of Holdings (filed 21st) April 17: Lutwidge pens letter to Warden Yarn from Scarlet Sovereign with concerns about being used as a "shield" for northern Atlantic construction project

1953
The ill-fated Baldur vanishes during the second leg of its quixotic attempt to follow the Viking charts

1954
June 22: Lutwidge types letter to Ryan about disappointment in not being invited to Rapture

1955
Reports of a "phantom lighthouse" precedes the discovery of six capsized Icelandic fishing vessels

1956
Final radio transmissions from the English vessel Ice Beagle before its disappearance: "That doesn't make sense. It shouldn't be there... do you see them? They're watching us!"

1957
Celeste Roget travels to the Himalayas to find her father

January 22: Frank Fontaine installs first Power to the People machine in Rapture, likely as a response to conflict

1958
May 23: Lutwidge writes "Thingumbob" letter to Celeste

September: Lutwidge records "For the Seeker" and puzzle box message; disappears

September 12: Frank Fontaine fakes own death

December: Lutwidge's lower Broadway workshop burns down

December 31: Masquerade party is thrown, Kashmir restaurant attacked, Rapture civil war begins

1959
The Vulmea is found adrift, its 14 man crew missing; dinners half eaten

Big Daddies are commissioned for creation by Andrew Ryan to protect Little Sisters in Rapture during the civil war.

1960
Transatlantic jet DF-0301 (Jack's flight) vanishes with all crew and 89 passengers; international search efforts fail

events of Bioshock occur

Persistent rumors claim that a nuclear submarine sank while searching for Flight DF-0301

Celeste Roget finds Lutwidge in one of his laboratories; he is naked and working on a lengthy manuscript

Summer: A "Rød Killian Quain" meets with Lex Harlan in his New York office

December 2:Quain is admitted to Tollevue Mental Hospital

1961
August 25: Cindy, Mark Meltzer's daughter, is born

September: "The Man From Utropolis(?)" and part 1 of "Utropolis Now!" are printed in Visionary Wonder Stories

1963
November: Icelandic vessel spots volcanic island forming, dubbed "Surtsey"

1967
February 17: Lynch finds footprints on Lahinch Beach (in Liscannor Bay); presumably also finds Big Daddy doll

February 20: Irish girl disappears from Liscannor Bay

March 15: girl disappears from Felixstowe, Germany, vessel detects red light underwater

March 18: J. Lynch writes letter to Meltzer regarding footprints and kidnapping

March 22: girl disappears from St. Cloud, France; Interpol issues press release

April: 4 year old Chantal Dumas is kidnapped from her orphanage in West Flanders

April 11: A newspaper reports that Camillie Dumas, aged 6 is kidnapped in La Rocchelle, France; red lights appear in the harbor

April 23: Red Glow alarms Spanish fishermen in La Boca, Spain

April 27: girl disappears from La Boca

May 5: Boatman dodged "ghost sub" on Douro river

May 23: Ghost lights near Cadiz

June 6: Meltzer sends info to Philadelphia Observer

June 14: "mysterious red light" circles the Golden Queen, a cruise ship, off coast of Florida; The US Coast guard sights a "fast-moving red light" under the surface near the Virgin Islands; Jennifer Walker aged 5 is taken from her holiday bungalow in Puerto Rico

June 17: Meltzer receives brush-off from the Philadelphia Observer

June 30: Meltzer sends letter to his representative including his research

July 14: A police report of a further break-in and kidnapping of Melinda Jelenski in Wilmington, NC

July 15: Meltzer receives letter from Roscoe, including classified info regarding disappearances

July 25: A letter addressed to Mark Meltzer from the House of Representatives thanks him for information relating to the mystery submarines; referred to ONI

August 5: Williamsburg girl missing

August 6: Mystery lights in Chesapeake Bay

August 8: Fredericksburg kidnapping

August 9: False alarm at Annapolis; invasion called hoax

August 10: Appearance; abduction by Big Sister at Atlantic City, NJ

August 12-17: Red light sightings around NYC; multiple kidnappings

August 14: Letter received by Meltzer from Esther George re: Aug 10 kidnapping

August 19: Light spotted at Montauk, Long Island

August 25: Abduction from Innsmouth, Rhode Island

August 27: Abductions and red lights in Boston

September 28: Meltzer sends letter to Roscoe Inman; various sightings around New England

October 1: Meltzer takes photos of Big Sister in New Brunswick

October 21: Meltzer takes final photo of his daughter, near "grandma's"

Between October 21 and 27: Big Sister kidnaps Cindy

October 27: Meltzer questioned in kidnapping of his daughter

1968
March 6: Meltzer is discharged from Tollevue

Between March 6 and April 25: Meltzer encounters Big Sister on the docks on the Hudson

April 25: Meltzer's legs are x-rayed

May 19: Meltzer is prescribed painkillers

May 20: Meltzer receives divorce papers from Amanda May 21: Something in the Sea Phase 2 begins (presumably)

May 24: Philip Isodore calls

May 26: Roscoe Inman calls May 28: Benny Stango calls May 29: Benny Stango calls again; Lunchbox puzzle appears

June: monthly undergrounder publishes articles on Lutwidge and The Vanishing

June 1: Roscoe Inman calls

June 2: Meltzer opens puzzle box (presumably) June 3: Philip Isodore calls June 4: Amanda Meltzer calls June 9: Phil Isodore calls

June 11: Benny Stango calls June 12: Roscoe Inman calls June 17: German reporter calls June 25: Roscoe Inman calls June 26: Celeste Roget calls June 30: Jeremiah Lynch calls July 3: Charles Molley, Amanda's lawyer, calls July 12: Celeste Roget calls July 14: Roscoe Inman calls

July 15: Celeste Roget calls July 16: Amanda calls July 17: Jeremiah Lynch calls July 22: Meltzer goes to Battery Park warehouse, breaks mirror and finds map, reel-to-reel and jewelry box(?). Meltzer is caught by local police but released shortly afterward. The Bellman's map appears on wall; Stango calls about warehouse incursion

July 23: Blue reel-to-reel from Lutwidge appears next to record player, Meltzer writes note about Battery Park warehouse visit

July 24: Jewelry puzzle box appears on Meltzer's desk

July 28: Call from Jeremiah Lynch regarding Lutwidge's connections to Lewis Carroll; Hunting of the Snark appears on right table

July 29: Call from Inman regarding sea currents

July 30: Presumably after opening the jewelry puzzle box, Mark types up list of locations for August 8 and posts on his wall July 31: Meltzer draws continents on Bellman's map August: Giant Boulder Saucer Con occurs, Phil interviews Lex Harlan

August 3: Call from Phil Isodore regarding California point, Meltzer writes up Working Theories sheet

August 4: Call from Celeste Roget about Bellman point in Nice, France

August 5: The book on Mark Meltzer's desk, by the answering machine, lets you read the first page of Chapter 7, Leviathan, from the book The Frozen Triangle. It explains about the last recorded sounds from The Ice Beagle, and the disappearance of the Scientists aboard it. When clicked on, it also shows the previous pages 12 and 13 that were able to be viewed before.

August 6: Ulrich Broder calls about German point and Tenenbaum

August 7: Calander piece for August 8th is found posted on the wall on his desk. The note says "Tomorrow is the day! Jones Beach, here I come. Hoping my contacts hit the other 9 beaches...got a feeling this is BIG."

August 8: Possible date alluded to inside jewelry puzzle box (08/08) Bottles from Worley Winery land on beaches noted on Bellman's chart with information from and invitation to Rapture

August 10: The posters and Arcadia wine bottle are shown in Mark's office, including an article by Flann McDonagh in the weekly undergrounder.

August 11: Letter from Scarlet Sovereign to Warden Yarn appears, as well as new list of Meltzer's notes regarding Andrew Ryan and a manila folder from Sovereign

September 3: Meltzer calls Stango asking to be taken to Tollevue, presumably is taken there

September 4: Meltzer's office appears to have been highly disheveled or searched