Here is a new tome for Call of Cthulhu.  Below is an excerpt from the book, some history for the Keeper and the tome's stats.  Together, this should provide a Keeper with sufficient information to construct a short scenerio around the adventures described below. 

An excerpt from "Twenty years of investigating the unknown: the unfinshed diary of Dr. Otis Clarke, M.D., of Philadelphia"

"It was a letter in the post that set off our recent adventure into the unknown.  One morning, I received a letter from an old military acquaintance, Captain James Erasmus Sharpe.  It was postmarked Delaware City, Delaware.  It took a few minutes to find an atlas and to discover where this god forsaken place was located.  The nearest military installation was something called Fort Delaware, located in the middle of the Delaware River.  It appeared that Captain Sharpe had recently recently returned from an inspection of the island's fortifications for the US Army.  The fort has apparently laid empty since 1867 or so, and Captain Sharpe was inspecting the maintenance program undertaken by local contractors to maintain this vital link in our nation's coastal defences.

"While spending the night in the former officer's lodgings on the island, Sharpe wrote that he had been awakened in the middle of the night by a strange croaking sound. 'At first, I thought it was the sound of a thousand bull frogs, but the croaking sounds got nearer and louder, and as I moved to the windows, I saw figures moving outside the fort.  Looking into the interior of the fort, I saw more figures, and their strange lopping gait set off memoiries of seeing Confederate injured moving in columns after their defeat at Gettysburg.  My mind apparently began to play tricks, and I thought I heard a rebel yell from the croaking mass below.  The figures seemed to charge each other and then a horrific light shattered the inky darkness and gloom of the night, knocking me unconscious.  I awoke several hours later, lying on the floor, covered in a cold sweat.  I quickly washed, dressed and went down to the courtyard to see if there were any signs or evidenc of the occurence from last night.  Looking around, nothing seemed to be disturbed and there was no trace of of the intruders or of the horrific violence I glimpsed before fainting.  Gathering my gear from the room I slept in, I left the fort.  I was passing through the cool, wet, stone portcullis and gate when I noticed a glint of metal in one corner.  There, laying on the ground, were two shiny brass buttons, and as I turned them over in my hand, I noticed that they were stamped 'CSA'!  I think my mind snapped at that moment for here was evidence of the dreadful visions from the previous evening.  I know I ran pell mell for the the docks, where the boat was arriving, to take me back to the mainland, and to let off the maintenance crew.  The Captain of the boat greeted my dishevelled and distraught person with dismay.  Iordered that he immediately set off for Delaware City.  When he failed to move quickly enough, I drew my revolver and put a round through the pilot house window.  We quickly cast the lines and the boat moved off. We arrived on shore a few scant minutes later, where I retired to a local tavern to calm my nerves.  I am writing you, my old friend and soldierly brother, to gather yourself and any acquaintances to try and help save my tenuous grip on sanity.  I must return to the island soon, prove that nothing happened, and try and salvage my reputation, career and honor. I await your rapid reply.'

"So ended the letter.  What was I to do?  I gathered a few of my more trusted colleagues, some equipment and a change of clothes, and took the first train from Philadelphia to New Castle, where the rail line ends.  From there, we plan on hiring a coach to take us to Delaware City and the meeting with an old friend.  Together, we will confront whatever awaits on that horrid little island."

Excerpted from "TWENTY YEARS INVESTIGATING THE UNKNOWN: THE UNFINISHED DIARIES OF DR. OTIS CLARKE, M.D., OF PHILADELPHIA", by Brian Templehoff, (Newark, DE: unpublished doctoral thesis, 1989).

The original twenty diaries, including the unfinished 1888 diary, are held by the Delaware Historical Society, Wilmington, DE.  The 1888 diary was discovered by the US Army Corps of Engineers in 1946 while dearming and removing military stores from Fort Delaware.  That exact circumstances of its discovery are unknown, though information acquired by Brian Templehoff in 1987 under the Freedom of Information Act's provisions indicated that the Army has retained possession ofCaptain James Erasmus Sharpe's diaries and unfinished report to Corps of Commisioners.  These items are still marked TOP SECRET one hundred years after the event.
 

SOME HISTORY OF FORT DELAWARE

Fort Delaware is located on Pea Patch Island, in the Delaware River, one mile east of Delaware City.  The 178 acre island got its name from a colonial era legend which said that a boat loaded with peas capsized and the peas took root in a sand bar and sprouted in the sandy loam.

The island, even to this day, dominates the shipping channel that leads from the ports of Philadelphia and Wilmington.  It is close by the Delaware River entrance of the C&D ship canal, and so provides a short cut for shipping to Baltimore and the Chesapeake Bay region.  As a result, the island has been fortified on and off since 1813.  The British attacks on Washington and Baltimore during the War of 1812 convinced the army that a fort needed to be built on the island to protect Philadelphia and Wilmington.  The present fort replaced an earlier fort destroyed by fire, and was built between 1849 and 1859. The island is only accessible by boat, and the only sheltered anchorage is at a pier on the opposite side of the island, constructed in the 1960s.  A protected anchorage was constructed nearer the fort during the Civil War, and a small railroad was laid to help move supplies and other cargo to the fort.  However, this anchorage is tidal, and tended to silt up without constant maintenance, which is the current situation.

Today, the fort is a state park, open to tourists.  During the Civil War, there was another group of "tourists", some of whom stayed for several years.  The fort was a Union prison during the war, housing several hundred Confederate prisonners, and the fort gained a terrible reputation as the Andersonville of the North.  Cells were built below ground, and as the fort itself is surrounded by water, and the river runs directly under the masonry walls, the cells often flooded and the walls of the fort are continually damp.  The fort itself is in a continual state of decay despite maintenance.  Rooms are damp even with heaters or a roaring fire in the fireplace, woodwork quickly rots in the dampness and the main gates' brick and masonry archway drips near continual streams of glistening water over the stone and brick. The flooding of the lower levels occassionally loosens materials from the dirt flooring of the cells, such as buttons, rusting spoons and bones.  Birds, stray cats, rats, and other animals contribute to the fort's odd sounds, eerie shadows, and foul smells.


STATS FOR THE DIARY OF DR OTIS CLARKE M.D.
+05%; -1d6 SAN; 1x Spell Modifier; Spells: Contact Cthulhu, Summon Deep Ones; Enchant Crown

Dr. Otis and Captain Sharpe discovered that a ship had crashed on Pea Patch island in 1681.  The ship was the Susanna, captained by the Dutch South Seas explorer, Christen Van Der Meir.  The Susanna was returning from the South Pacific with a cargo of strange trinkets collected on the islands and peas from South America.  Trying to reach Holland before winter, the weather turned against them and they were forced to take refuge at Philadelphia.  But, the Susanna never made it, instead breaking up on a hidden shoal.  The trinkets were hidden in the sandy loam, including a Deep One crown.  A storm in 1888 uncovered the crown and Captain Sharpe happened to be there the evening two groups of Deep Ones came looking for it.