Rapture Timeline

This is a chronological timeline of events related to the history of Rapture, based on information revealed in the BioShock game series and There's Something in the Sea. Please note that when specific months and days are not given, they are only known to occur within the specified month or year.

1906

 * September 3
 * Orrin Oscar Lutwidge is born.

1919

 * Undefined Date
 * Andrew Ryan, as a child, flees Russia in the wake of revolution; arrives in the United States of America.

1923
May 17
 * James Millard Oakes is born.

1939

 * August 26
 * After accepting a job opening from Alan Turing, Charles Milton Porter and his wife Pearl take the Apollo Airways Flight DF-0113 from Philadelphia to London, to begin working with him for the Allies.


 * September 1
 * Beginning of World War II.

1940

 * September 7
 * Beginning of the Blitz on London. Pearl Porter is killed by the first bombing.

1943

 * October 5
 * The German U-boat U-336 captained by Hans Hunger is sunk in the Straits of Denmark south-west of Iceland, in position 62°43'N, 27°17'W, by rockets from a British Hudson aircraft.

1945

 * August 6
 * United States drops an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Sofia Lamb survives the bombing but loses all her friends in the explosion.


 * August 9
 * A second atomic bomb is dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki.


 * September 2
 * End of World War II.

1946

 * Undefined Date
 * Work begins on the construction of Rapture.
 * James Millard Oakes disappears.
 * Brigid Tenenbaum disappears.
 * Jean Louis Roger disappears.
 * Mimi Tabor and Elgar Vankin disappear.
 * Icelandic fishermen complain of "dead seas" and allege that oil slicks have killed off whole areas of the ocean


 * February 13
 * 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 an invoice to Warden Yarn for large amounts of steel.


 * November 5
 * Rapture's infastructure is built up enough to become habitable for a large population. The city opens to an influx of citizens.


 * December
 * Yi Suchong noted missing in Chinese paper

1947

 * Undefined Date
 * Repeated equipment failures on commercial vessels; shipping routes are shifted quietly by NATO
 * A USAF C-47 "Skytrain" vanishes with seventeen troops and two decorated pilots after a bizarre final radio call
 * A Child's Garden of Cyphers is published by Liddell & Lewis
 * Dr. J.S. Steinman disappears.


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

1948

 * Frank Fontaine arrives in Rapture.
 * Julie Langford disappears.


 * June 16
 * Fontaine Futuristics designs an advertisement for a Teleportation Plasmid.

1949
Booker DeWitt arrives to Rapture
 * Undefined Date

1951

 * (Presumably) Rapture is finished. Andrew Ryan cuts off contact with the surface.

1952

 * Undefined Date
 * Eleanor Lamb is born in Rapture.


 * April 17
 * Lutwidge pens a letter to Warden Yarn from Scarlet Sovereign with concerns about being used as a "shield" for North Atlantic construction project.


 * December 19
 * Lutwidge Property Management produces Statement of Holdings (filed 21st).

1953

 * The ill-fated Baldur vanishes during the second leg of its quixotic attempt to follow the Viking charts. Their last recorded position was in 63°30'N, 27°4'W.

1954

 * June 22
 * In a letter, Lutwidge expresses his disappointment that Ryan did not invite him to Rapture.

1955

 * Reports of a "Phantom Lighthouse" precedes the discovery of six capsized Icelandic fishing vessels.


 * October 22
 * The Russian KGB publishes an internal report about various missing persons cases and suspected defection to western democracies.

1956

 * Final radio transmissions from the British vessel Ice Beagle before its disappearance: "That doesn't make sense. It shouldn't be there... do you see them? They're watching us!".
 * Jack is "born" in a lab under the supervision of Tenenbaum and Suchong.
 * The I.O.O.P (International Order Of the Pawns) ships out its introductory pamphlet for those desiring to quest for Rapture.

1957

 * Undefined Date
 * 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

 * Undefined date
 * Big Daddies are commissioned for creation by Andrew Ryan to protect Little Sisters in Rapture during the mounting civil unrest.


 * April 23
 * LWS (Lee Wilson Seward) sends Orrin Oscar Lutwidge a letter regarding IOOP business and his suspicions against the Red Pawn.


 * May 23
 * "The Red Pawn" sends the forged "Thingumbob" letter to Celeste, leading her to believe that it was from Lutwidge.


 * June
 * Lutwidge records ""Terra Incognito" #XVI = le Maison Dieu".


 * June 17
 * Lutwidge writes a letter to the "Red Pawn" stating "the game is at an end."


 * July 28
 * Auger Detection writes letter to Celeste about continued investigation of Lutwidge and his association with an accomplice, codenamed "Red Pawn", in forging documents.


 * September
 * Lutwidge sends a letter to the Grey Pawn noting his concerns about the Red Pawn.
 * Lutwidge records numerous audio tapes for "the Seeker," writes symbols on the basement tiles of Warden Yarn, hides the Puzzle Boxes, and disappears.


 * September 12
 * Frank Fontaine fakes own death.


 * November 13
 * The British fishing vessel Hackness becomes lost in the North Atlantic and encounters the Phantom Lighthouse.


 * December
 * The Lutwidge Property Management building on Lower Broadway burns down.
 * Lutwidge stops in Ireland to visit Jeremiah Lynch, then travels to Reykjavik, Iceland on his way to the Frozen Triangle.


 * December 30
 * Dash H. Carmady takes photos of the tiles in Lutwidge's basement workshop at the Warden Yarn Building.


 * December 31
 * Masquerade party is thrown; the Kashmir Restaurant is attacked during the 1958 New Year's Eve Riots, and the Rapture Civil War begins.


 * Subject Delta is forced to shoot himself while under the influence of the Hypnotize Plasmid.


 * The events of Burial at Sea begin. Private Investigator Booker DeWitt is hired by Elizabeth to find his daughter Sally.

1959

 * Orrin Oscar Lutwidge arrives in Rapture and encounters a french woman, James Millard Oakes, and Catherine.
 * The Vulmea is found adrift, its fourteen man crew missing; dinners half eaten.
 * Lutwidge leaves Rapture.
 * The entirety of the Rapture Civil war takes place. Rapture goes from a working society, to a warzone, as both Ryan and Atlas fight for control. Both forces actively splice, and many citizens eventually lose their minds. The  people who survive and keep their sanity stay barricaded in small holdouts within the city.
 * Ryan puts the Bathyspheres into lock-down.

1960

 * Undefined Date
 * Transatlantic Apollo Air Flight DF-0301 (Jack's flight) run by Apollo Air vanishes with six crew persons and eighty-nine passengers; international search efforts fail. U.S. and NATO vessels are sent out to sweep the area.
 * The events of BioShock occur.
 * Lutwidge takes a newspaper clipping from the night of the plane crash, noting that "the radio has fallen silent".
 * Persistent rumors claim that a nuclear submarine sank while searching for Flight DF-0301


 * August 3
 * Auger Detection spies "Orrin O. Lutwidge" in his mid-Manhattan lab/workshop and he is seen working with hypodermic needle and jars, presumably ADAM, EVE or Plasmids, as well as his manuscript


 * Summer
 * A "RØd Killian Quain" meets with Lex Harlan, editor of Visionary Wonder Stories in his New York office.


 * November
 * The first chapters of "Utropolis Now!" are published. A classified ad from Lutwidge/Quain mentioning the "I.O.O.P." is included.


 * December 2
 * Quain is admitted to Tollevue Hospital.


 * December 9
 * Quain is moved to the Secure Ward.


 * December 21
 * Sixth session with Quain/Lutwidge is recorded by Dr. Howard Lyman.

1961

 * February 2
 * Quain/Lutwidge's 21st session, presumably begins electroconvulsive therapy the next day.


 * August 25
 * Cindy Meltzer, Mark Meltzer's daughter, is born.


 * September
 * "The Man From Utropolis (?)" and "Words of Wonder" are printed in Visionary Wonder Stories.

1963

 * November
 * Icelandic vessel spots volcanic island forming, dubbed "Surtsey".

1966

 * May
 * The Monthly Undergrounder publishes an interview with Lee Wilson Seward.

Undefined Date

 * Mark sets up a room in a ship.
 * Phase Three Begins.
 * The boat, S.S Nellie Bly captained by Casey Ferrence, ships out at dawn, heading southeast.
 * Mark solves the metal Vault Puzzle and follows its clues, eventually reaching the Frozen Triangle.
 * A radio transmission from James Millard Oakes is intercepted requesting immediate evacuation.
 * The S.S. Nellie Bly arrives at the Phantom Lighthouse.
 * Mark leaves a letter to Captain Ferrence detailing his plan to leave the ship in an attempt to enter the Phantom Lighthouse. The Nellie Bly is attacked by Splicers. The Icelandic Coast Guard responds to a distress signal from the Nellie Bly.
 * Phil Isidore leaves a phone message in Mark's office in Montauk promising "the truth will out."
 * Mark Meltzer enters Rapture.
 * The events of BioShock 2 and Minerva's Den occur.

1980s

 * The American channel PHE broadcast a two-parts episode of the TV documentary Fact From Myth narrated by Miles Bloom, which covers some of the mysteries surrounding Rapture, presented as a "modern day Atlantis."