It's all one colossal spoiler:
This would totally ruin the hunt for the location, going after Harliss, and exploring Sctullecove entirely.
What i thought to do was to have some sort of modify memory spell effect being used on everyone who leaves the place. Kinda M.I.B. style with the little flashy thingy. In this case a captain would be needed to wait in town for the arriving ships and sail them into the base.
There also could be a lesser geas or some other spell used just to make sure. This could be carried out by the three harpy dire singers on the base.
But then I would need a cool monster that has the modify memory power (at will basically). The harpies could do the job if they had more spellcasting levels, but only very slowly. Or is it a modify memory wand? Security is expensive... Any ideas?
Alternatively, the Crimson Fleet could have more than one base. Maybe only the top dogs know where headquarters is.
That's what I was thinking. Since the Crimson Fleet is so mobile, only the top dogs know where are the loot is going. And, theorectically, all of the ones who attacked Farshore are dead. Who ever is left over is smart enough to grab their bodies when they're retreating...
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When I planned out the adventure, I decided that only a few of the captains in the Crimson Fleet know the location of the headquarters. So when my PCs beat back the pirate assault and questioned the captives, they got a lot of rumor and misinformation from the crew. The best information they were able to get was from the more senior crewmen, who mention they've had some business dealings in that wretched hive of scum and villainy called Scuttlecove and suggest the PCs start their search there.
Creative Director
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We've kind of done that work for you, although maybe we haven't been as obvious as we should have in "Serpents of Scuttlecove..."
The majority of the Crimson Fleet doesn't know the exact location of the home base (the Wreck). They basically treat Scuttlecove itself as the base. The only ones more or less guaranteed to know the base's location are the captains, and even them, not all of them. Of the captains who assault Farshore, they probably have an idea of where the base is, but only Vanthus has been there. So it'll probably be tough getting exact directions out of them.
A better choice is to have pirates leak information about one of the sites in Scuttlecove that COULD contain information about the pirate lair. They might name drop any of the locations in "Serpents of Scuttlecove" as a possible site to find out more.
In the end, though... there's no "one true way" through "Serpents of Scuttelcove" and the adventure's designed that way. High level characters have a wealth of options when it comes to methods for busting adventures open. Even if the PCs do their homework and determine where the Wreck is without ever setting foot in Scuttlecove, they may still need to head in there for any number of reasons... to find out where Lavinia went, to rescue Harliss, to track down the Jade Ravens, or simply to shop.
If they would use speak with dead on Vanthus then again the whole finding out part is ruined. I could say that there is no answer as the soul of Vanthus is protected by Demogorgon.
Then again i will throw in the adventure: Porphyry House Horror as a hook for info about the fleet.
Still, i like the memory modification idea the most :)