Being an explorer was a dangerous job. Exploring the frontiers that nobody had ever been to leaves the door open for disappearing due to getting lost, lack of food and other things that they may not have been prepared for. Here are three explorers who have disappeared during their travels.
George Bass
Bass is credited with discovering the strait that lies between Tasmania and Australia. But this British explorer is more known for disappearing while he was on a voyage to South America in 1804. After traveling to Australia in hopes of selling his cargo and making a major profit, he learned that there wasn’t as much money to be made as he thought. So he left and traveled towards South America. But soon after leaving on his voyage, his ship and his crew vanished somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. One theory is that his crew made it to Chile where they were arrested and forced into slavery – but there is no solid evidence of this happening.
Sir John Franklin
Sir John Franklin did much of his exploring with Francis Crozier. They were well-known explorers in the polar regions during the 19th century. In 1845, they led two ships in a valiant effort to discover the Northwest Passage. , which links the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. This would have created a much easier and faster trade route for exporting products among nations. But in July of that year, while on their voyage, the entire expedition disappeared without a hint of what happened. When a rescue party reached the area two years later, they found that the ships had gotten trapped in ice. Lead poisoning may have caused the death of the crew as all of their provisions were sealed with it.
Percy Fawcett
Colonel Percy Fawcett may have been the most well-known explorer to disappear in the jungles of the Amazon. He disappeared in 1925 while searching for a mythical lost city, which he named “Z.” he believed that it was located somewhere in Brazil, specifically in the Mato Grosso region that had yet to be explored. He set off to search for “Z” with his oldest Son jack and Raleigh Rimmell, a friend of his. He sent one final letter back just before the three ventured into unmapped territory and they were never heard from again. To this day, nobody knows if they were captured and killed by hostile Indians or if they died from disease or starvation. Some have even theorized that the three decided to live out the rest of their remaining years in the wild.