EV Protean started out as Bloodhound: a twin-screw steam engine ship commissioned by a minor British trading concern, able to function as a normal freight ship while also being easy to outfit for adverse environments. The Naning Wars of 1832, 1835 and 1839 between the British East India Company and the Naning chiefdom of Malay left the EIC’s shipping routes to Hong Kong and India poorly defended. Smaller companies started running their own trade routes underneath the EIC’s, using vehicles like Bloodhound to evade capture by hiding in dragon whirlpools south of Hong Kong. Particularly enterprising captains could even partake in a bit of privateering, sinking a ship one day and showing up to the docks at Hong Kong with ‘salvaged goods’ along with its normal shipment. Unable to stop these ‘vulture ships’ from taking advantage of their misfortune and seething after having to sign an unequal treaty with the Naning chief, Dol Said, the EIC pursued its rivals ruthlessly in court. The lawsuits bankrupted the trading concern, and the Bloodhound went to the EIC as part of the settlement, who sold it to the Royal Navy.

Rechristened HMS Pearl, it was used as a support ship during the Mu Expedition to research and repopulate what was thought to be the sunken land of Mu, the secret origin state of all primitive cultures. After months of scouring the Pacific Ocean, most of the expedition fleet was lost in a single night. The official report is that food poisoning and poor judgment led to an explosion on a second support ship carrying the scientific instruments and the fuel, causing a toxic mist that caused disorientation amidst the rest of the fleet. The surviving sailors report seeing a serpentine monster under the water’s surface shortly before the explosions started. James Churchward, youthful assistant to expedition head Augustus Le Plongeon, said that his master had reported making contact with an intelligent Mu relic a few days before the disaster occurred. Given the British Empire’s reluctance to acknowledge the possibility of dragons existing off the coast of Asia, it’s possible that the Mu Expedition intruded on a dragon’s territory and was wiped out for their impudence, but legally we cannot confirm that.

In the wake of the disaster, the remaining ships from the expedition gained a poor reputation among British sailors and the Navy had trouble even finding captains for them, much less crew. As such, they were sold again. The Pearl was snapped up by a shipping concern in Louisiana, refurbished, and rechristened EV Protean, specialized in ferrying academics and explorers on expeditions. Its first voyage under its newest name would be in 1875, led by Dr. Theodore Birch. His final report of the expedition would be titled The Protean Experiments in its honor.