(This walkthrough omits some optional points and alternative solutions.
You do not have to get all available points to reach a winning ending.)
THE REGULAR ENDING
If you examine the rock pool at the "rocky shore", one square south of
the west dock, you'll find a pouch that contains a bit of blank paper.
Of course, no bit of blank paper is really just a bit of blank paper.
Hold on to it for now.
Leave your cabin and climb the ladder. Talk to the captain. She'll give
you a goal and have the gangplank deployed. Cross it to reach the
island.
Let's start with the mermaid. She lives in a tranquil cove two steps
south of the west dock, but you can't speak her language. When you try
to talk to her, she points at the conch - but you can't pick it up.
From her cove, go N N N NE to the palm-fringed lagoon. Get the sea
urchin shell. Take it southwest, south, south, and south again to the
tranquil cove where the mermaid lives.
Examine the conch and the sea urchin shell. Drop the sea urchin shell
at the same location and the hermit crab will move house. You can now
pick up the conch. When you are holding it, it will act as a universal
translator. Talk to the mermaid.
While you're here, head SE then E to Old Bob's camp and talk to him.
He won't let you enter his cave, but if you ask him about it he'll give
away that there is a secret back entrance through a berry bush. (That
entrance is concealed so you can't use it unless Bob has told you about
it.)
The mermaid's sister Persilla is in the British fort. (From the
mermaid's cove: N N N NE SE.) To get in there, you'll need to get
past Private Cobb, who is sitting outside cooking bacon but really
wants an egg and mushrooms to go with it.
The egg is in the swamp two steps south of Cobb. Go there and pick it
up. Go another step south to get to the swamp, where you can both pick
some berries from the bush (they'll be handy shortly), and "enter" the
bush to get into Bob's cave, where the mushrooms grow...
..but he'll come in and chomp you on the leg. As happens whenever you
'die', you'll be found by your crewmates and taken to your ship's sick
bay. Dr Deadsey will ask you if anything hurts. Say your leg, and he'll
give you a wooden one (fortunately, you don't need to have any of your
existing legs amputated.)
Go back to the swamp (leave the ship, then from the dock go E S E --
picking up your scattered belongings along the way). Wear the wooden
leg, and enter the cave through the bush again. This time when Bob
tries to bite you he'll hurt his teeth and run away. You can now safely
enter the cave (from either entrance - this will be important later)
and pick the fungus that is growing there. There's also a greatcoat,
which presents an alternative solution for getting past Private Cobb.
(If you fancy another visit to sick bay, you can eat one of the
mushrooms.)
From the cave, go N N N to get back to Cobb. Give him the egg and the
fungus. He'll try to fry them, the egg will hatch and the baby
crocodile will scare him away. You can now enter the fort.
Enter the fancy tent and talk to the colonel. The fish on his wall is
Persilla the mermaid -- her sister may have mentioned that in this
universe, some mermaids look fully human; well, others look fully fish.
To get rid of the colonel, slip the berries into his tea and wait till
he takes a sip.
Take Persilla off the wall.
While you're here, the army fort contains what you need to make your
bit of blank paper into a treasure map. It needs to be coloured to
reduce the contrast - you do this by dipping it in the Colonel's tea.
Then you need to iron it using the ironing board in the shabby tent.
It's now a treasure map with an X over the swamp! (There's also a
cryptic message, which relates to the super secret special ending;
more on that later.)
Back to Persilla. You can either put her back in the sea from
anywhere on the coast, or carry her back to her sister (from the
colonel's tent: OUT OUT W S S SW.) You can now visit the Mermaid King
for a reward, but you need to be able to go underwater for this.
For that, you need to figure out the machine by the shipwreck on the
south coast, just southeast of the mermaid's cove. The helmet is a
diving helmet, but it won't work unless you wind up the machine a few
times - each turn of the windlass gives you five turns of air, to a
maximum of 25. The helmet is tethered to the machine by an airhose so
you can only go so far away from the machine. The windlass on the
machine becomes accessible when you examine it.
Wind it up till it won't go any further, then go back to the mermaid
cove (NW from the machine) and enter the sea. Then go west and down
to reach the Mermaid King's palace. She'll let you take the silver key.
As is traditional, the key opens a treasure chest. The chest is buried
in the swamp -- to find it, you'll need to enter the swamp with the
diving helmet on, but because of the hose you can only do that by going
through the cave, which is why it's handy that you've got rid of Bob.
From the mermaid's palace, go UP E E (back to dry land) then SE, give
the machine a few more turns, then E, into the cave and N back to the
swamp. If your air supply is still good you can enter the swamp and
retrieve the treasure chest.
Opening the chest will reveal a gold bar, which you can take back and
give to Cap'n for a good ending.
SUPER SECRET SPECIAL ENDING
In the bottom right of the map is a message saying that if you free
your mind you can shift your perspective. This points to the southeast
corner of the island (the bottom right of the map).
If you've been on the hill (from the dock: E S SE) and looked at the
view, you may have noticed that the Spanish treasure fleet - the
greatest prize in piracy - happens to be becalmed a long way south of
the island. Unfortunately they are an enormous and heavily armed fleet
and you are just a lowly crew member on one ship, so winning this prize
will take a change of perspective.
(You need to have been to the hill and seen the fleet from there to get
this ending, by the way. You can see the ships from the southeastern
peninsula, but if you haven't seen them from the hill you won't know
what they are, and you'll lack the ambition to get the magic to work.)
The mushrooms are hallucinogenic and, in the right circumstances,
magical. (If you gave them to Cobb earlier, they'll still be there.)
For a shift in perspective, you'll need an eyepatch -- to get this, you
need to visit Dr Deadsey in sickbay, and the only way to get to him is
by needing medical attention. There are various ways to do this,
including eating berries or fungus, or entering the sea and then taking
your diving helmet off. Tell him your eyes are sore and he'll give you a
patch.
Go to the peninsula - from the dock, S E E N E S S S S. (If you've just
been to sick bay, you might need to find your belongings first, though.)
When you're there, wear the eyepatch, eat the fungus, and take the
ships...
You'll be taken back to sickbay and your belongings, including the
miniaturised ships, will be scattered in the forest, so you'll need to
go back there and find them. Give them to the captain -- and that's
Ending 2.
