When we imagine adventurers and pioneers, we think of names like Christopher Columbus, David Livingston, or Indiana Jones: great people or fictional but vivid images. In any case, examples worthy of imitation, performing feats, certainly not living for money. However, for every successful researcher who has left a mark in history textbooks, there are hundreds of names that no one has heard of. They were just as brave and selfless, but they lacked luck.
5 expeditions that ended in disaster
1. Mungo Park
After graduating from the University of Edinburgh, Mungo Park became an assistant ship’s doctor on the Worcester sailing ship heading to the island of Sumatra. After this trip, the young man enlisted the support of the Royal Society for the Development of Knowledge about Nature. Mungo Park led the next expedition personally; its goal was the valley of the Niger River. The group consisted of only four people: Park himself, the boy servant Demba, the local blacksmith Yumbo, and the formerly enslaved American Johnson. In Mauritania, travelers were robbed and then captured. After a few weeks, Mungo Park manages to escape. When he reaches the river, he decides to continue his research but falls ill with a fever.
The return trip had to be done on foot, which took over two months. In 1797, the adventurer returned to Scotland, living peacefully and writing memoirs for the next 6 years. In the autumn of 1803, Mungo Park received a new offer and agreed to lead a more prepared and better-equipped expedition to the same Niger Valley. He asked for a year to prepare, began to study Arabic, and approached the selection of companions more carefully. This time, the funding was at a completely different level.
A well-armed group of 40 people landed on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean and headed inland. The subsequent events became known thanks to the few entries from the surviving diary. Six months later, only 11 people remained alive. The rest died in clashes with the local population and from diseases. Despite such a poor start, Park persevered and led the group on. Fleeing from another attack, the traveler jumped into the river, hoping to reach the boat, but the current carried him away. Twenty-two years later, his son went in search of the Park, which also remained forever in the Niger Valley.
2. Jean-Francois de Lapérouse
In 1785, Jean-Francois de Galaup sailed on two frigates to the open sea. Though not the first in history, he had to make an extremely dangerous trip worldwide. The expedition faced many tasks, including mapping the West Coast of America, exploring the small islands of the Pacific Ocean, and visiting Australia. Two years later, the ships anchored in Petropavlovsk. La Perouse wrote about the reception at the port Garrison.
Between Sakhalin and Hokkaido is the Laperouse Strait, named after the discoverer. There are other eternal traces of that expedition in Russia, such as Cape Crillon. On January 24, 1788, the French frigates arrived in Australia, meeting the First Fleet of Great Britain. The British were beginning to explore a new continent. Replenishing the water supply, La Perouse moved to the Solomon Islands. No one has seen him since. Over the next 35 years, several attempts were made to find the missing expedition.
Positive results were achieved by the English captain Peter Dillon, who discovered traces of a shipwreck off the coast of Vanikoro Island. According to the remains of the equipment, it was possible to establish that these were indeed French ships. The fate of the team remains unknown. The local population shared a legend according to which white people were caught in a storm; some of them stayed on the island until they died, others repaired one of the ships and went to sea.
3. René-Robert Cavelier, Lord of La Salle
On April 9, 1682, after descending the Mississippi, La Salle got off the boat in the Gulf of Mexico and solemnly declared all the open territories the new possessions of the king. On paper, France received a huge area called Louisiana. No one controlled these lands. Later, Napoleon I would sell them to the United States for 7 cents per hectare. The deal looks even less profitable than the sale of Alaska.
However, at the beginning of the 19th century, no European power would have been able to hold Louisiana. America was still too far away, and the United States had already become strong enough. Despite his success, La Salle believed that to consolidate French rule in Louisiana, it was necessary to establish a new colony at the mouth of the Mississippi. From here, an offensive was planned against then-Spanish Texas.
King Louis XIV approved the plan and ordered the allocation of the necessary amount. On July 24, 1684, La Salle departed France with four ships. Visit. A F R I N I K . C O M . For the full article . Conflicts with the captains of the accompanying vessels began almost immediately. They were much older and more experienced, so they perceived Rene as an adventurer and an upstart. Already on the approach to the Gulf of Mexico, one ship will be captured by pirates, the second will crash, and the third will decide to go back to France.
Thus, only one frigate will reach its destination. However, the problems will only get worse. Due to inaccurate maps, the expedition landed 800 kilometers to the north. La Salle believed he could reach the Mississippi by land, but this plan failed. The next target was New France (in Canada). It took more than two years for all this to be tossed around. As a result, the surviving members of the squad rebelled and killed their commander.
4. Salomon August Andrée
The North Pole remains one of the most inaccessible places in the world today. At the end of the 19th century, an expedition to the Arctic was a deadly event. However, Swedish engineer Salomon August had a unique idea. Instead of ships with a large crew, you can use a balloon. The main advantage of the balloon is its relative independence from the season.
Simply put, the drifting ice does not hinder him; you can move the shortest way in a straight line.
According to Salomon’s calculations, 1,200 kilometers had to be covered from the starting point in Svalbard to the pole. It was planned to cover this distance in two days, and the same amount was allocated for the flight to Alaska or Chukotka. Reality has made its adjustments. In 48 hours, the balloon has traveled only 250 kilometers. The wind blew the balloon to the South, preventing it from getting closer to the target. The travelers were forced to land on the ice on the third day. 160 kilometers of snow-covered desert separated them from the previously dropped supplies.
In 20 days of walking, the group covered only a quarter of the way. Polar bear hunting allowed them to survive. On October 5, 1987, almost three months after the landing date, the expedition reached the southwestern tip of Bely Island, where it set up camp in an ice-free area. Over the next few days, all the travelers died for an unknown reason. The diary and the remains of Salomon Augustus were discovered only in 1930.
5. George Bass
George Bass was a professional in his field, and for the time being, he was favored by luck. Bass managed to explore a significant part of the Australian coast by rowing boats. Together with a team of six volunteers, he discovered and captured a group of escaped convicts. He rounded the island of Tasmania and created the first map of the region. In addition, the discoverer made several trips deep into Tasmania, climbing by boat along a few rivers.
At the same time, the official, documented contact of Europeans with the islanders took place. Today, the Bass Strait between Australia and Tasmania can be found on maps. By age thirty, George Bass had used his health reserve and was forced to abandon further adventures. After leaving the Navy, Bass became a merchant. In 1803, he left England for Sydney with goods worth 10,000 pounds. Somewhere around here, his luck had turned against him.
Arriving in Australia, Bass was unable to sell products due to the too-low purchasing power of the few colonists. At the end of February of the same year, disappointed and almost ruined, Bass went to South America, hoping to sell the goods. The ship disappeared over the horizon, and no one saw George anymore. It is still unknown what happened to the ship and the crew.
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