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It's easy to picture explorers embarking on their journeys with optimism and dreams of success. Driven by a deep desire to expand human understanding or to open up new and profitable trade routes, these expeditions were certainly bold. However, these ventures into the unknown were often filled with risks and recklessness, with tragic endings being all too common. Here are ten accounts of courageous explorers whose journeys took a turn for the worse.
10. Mungo Park
Mungo Park began his career as an African explorer in 1795, traveling deep into Africa from Gambia via the Niger River. His journey was filled with hardship, including a four-month imprisonment by an Arab sheik, but he pressed on, covering 200 miles (322 km) upriver. After two years of challenges and illnesses, he returned to Britain and published a bestselling account of his experiences, Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa.
In 1805, with government funding, Park set out on a grander expedition, leading a group of 40 men into the African interior along the Niger River. The mission quickly fell apart as disease claimed 29 of his team, and a fire destroyed much of their supplies before they even reached the river. Undeterred, Park and the survivors attempted to continue their journey by canoe, but they faced more dangers—attacks from local tribes and a fierce hippo. Eventually, their canoes were destroyed by rocks, and there were no survivors left.
9. Salomon August Andrée
Swedish engineer Salomon August Andrée had a bold and unconventional plan: he aimed to reach the North Pole in a hydrogen balloon. With the approval of King Oscar II of Sweden, he attempted the journey in 1896, but unfavorable winds thwarted his efforts. Undeterred, Andrée tried again the following year, successfully launching from Danes Island in the Arctic Sea.
Andrée was accompanied by a two-man crew as they set off in the Eagle balloon, hoping to travel north through the Arctic to the Pole. Their journey quickly turned disastrous as they lost the lines used for controlling the balloon. After only two days, they were forced to make an emergency landing on the ice. Armed with sleds and limited supplies, they spent the next three months struggling across the frozen wilderness. Diaries recovered later revealed that all three men perished by mid-October. Their remains were not found until 1930.
8. Jean-François de Galaup, Comte de La Pérouse
In 1785, King Louis XVI tasked Captain Jean-François de Galaup with a global mapping expedition. Commanding two ships and a crew of 225 men, La Pérouse made significant progress, sailing from Brest on France's west coast across the Atlantic to Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America. After rounding the Horn, his party sailed north along the American coastline. After reaching Alaska, La Pérouse continued on to China, Japan, and the Philippines, finally arriving in Australia in 1788.
La Pérouse left from Australia’s Botany Bay, but after that, he and his crew disappeared without a trace. The French government sent a search party, but despite their efforts, they found no sign of the captain or his men. It wasn’t until 1826 that the fate of the expedition was uncovered. Irish sailor Peter Dillon arrived on the southwest Pacific island of Vanikolo, where the locals revealed that years earlier, two ships had sunk nearby. The survivors had built a makeshift boat and sailed off, never to be seen again.
7. The Corte-Real Brothers
The three Portuguese Corte-Real brothers were Gaspar, Miguel, and Vasco. Gaspar first gained recognition as an explorer in 1500, when he led an expedition to Greenland, although he mistakenly thought he had reached East Asia. Despite this blunder, Gaspar was celebrated back home for his accomplishments. The following year, Gaspar returned to Greenland with his brother Miguel, leading a fleet of three ships.
However, only two of the ships made it back to Portugal, and the one carrying Gaspar was never seen again. Distraught, Miguel organized another expedition to search for his brother. Yet, he too disappeared and failed to return. This left Vasco as the sole remaining brother, and he decided to search for his lost siblings. King Manuel I, however, prohibited Vasco from leading another rescue mission. Two ships were sent out without him, and while both returned, they had not found the missing Corte-Real brothers, who were never heard from again.
6. Naomi Uemura
In 1970, Naomi Uemura made history as the first Japanese person to reach the summit of Mount Everest. His adventurous spirit also led him to complete a solo 470-mile (756.4-km) trek to the North Pole in 1978, a journey that took 57 days and included traveling with dog sleds. During this perilous expedition, he was forced to shoot a marauding polar bear.
In addition to conquering Everest, Uemura scaled Mount Aconcagua in South America, Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa, and Mont Blanc in Europe, all as a solo climber. He also reached the summit of Mount Denali, North America’s tallest peak, formerly known as Mount McKinley. In 1984, 14 years after his first ascent of Denali, Uemura returned for a second solo attempt. He successfully reached the summit on his 43rd birthday and radioed the news of his triumph. However, that would be his final message. He disappeared shortly after and was never seen again, with his remains still undiscovered to this day.
5. René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle
René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle, born in 1643, made his first journey from France to Canada (New France) at the age of 22, initially as a Jesuit priest. He learned from the Mohawks of a great river to the south, prompting him to leave the priesthood and lead an expedition in search of this mysterious waterway. La Salle succeeded in discovering the Illinois River, which he followed until it joined the mighty Mississippi.
In 1684, La Salle planned an ambitious voyage to the mouth of the Mississippi River, hoping to establish a colony there. He set out from France with four ships and 300 men, but the expedition soon encountered disaster. One ship was captured by pirates, another sank, and a third turned back to France. The final ship, carrying La Salle, ran aground 500 miles (805 km) from the Mississippi’s mouth at Matagorda Bay, Texas. La Salle then attempted to reach the river overland, but his men, frustrated by the journey’s hardships, mutinied and killed him in 1687.
4. George Bass
George Bass was born in England in 1771 and joined the Royal Navy at the age of 18. Eager for adventure, he seized the opportunity in 1794 to join the HMS Reliance, which was bound for New South Wales, Australia. Once there, Bass, alongside master’s mate Matthew Flinders, explored several parts of the Australian coast. One of their notable expeditions was through the waterway that separates mainland Australia from Tasmania, which came to be known as the Bass Strait.
After completing his Australian explorations, Bass, facing health issues, chose to transition to a career in commercial trading. The Navy granted him a year of medical leave, and in 1801, he sailed from England aboard the Venus, carrying goods worth 10,000 pounds with plans to profit by selling them in Australia. However, due to unfavorable market conditions, Bass could not sell his goods and instead decided to head to South America. He sailed into the Pacific in February 1803 and was never heard from again.
3. Sir Hugh Willoughby
In 1553, Sir Hugh Willoughby embarked on an expedition into uncharted Arctic waters in search of the fabled Northeast Passage, a route believed to offer a shortcut to China. The discovery of such a passage was thought to open up a new, easier sea route to Chinese markets, promising great economic benefits for British merchants. Willoughby set off with three ships, accompanied by Richard Chancellor, the only member of the expedition with navigational expertise.
The ships were separated during a violent storm, with Chancellor aboard one ship and Willoughby commanding the other two. Chancellor reached Russia, where he was welcomed by Emperor Ivan the Terrible. However, the fate of Willoughby remained a mystery until a year later when Russian fishermen made a chilling discovery at the River Varzina estuary on the Kola Peninsula. They found Willoughby’s log, which revealed that his crew had decided to set up camp there. Unfortunately, Willoughby and approximately 70 of his men perished during the brutal Arctic winter.
2. Vitus Bering
Danish explorer Vitus Bering led his first major expedition under the command of Russia’s Tsar Peter I in 1728. The tsar tasked Bering with determining whether there was a land bridge connecting Siberia to North America. Bering set off from the Kamchatka Peninsula in Siberia, where he concluded that no such land connection existed between Russia and Alaska.
Bering embarked on a second expedition in 1741, again departing from Kamchatka with two ships. He captained the St. Peter, while Aleksey Chirikov commanded the St. Paul. The two ships became separated during a fierce storm, and Bering ended up reaching the Commander Islands off the coast of Kamchatka. There, he and many of his crew fell victim to scurvy, the devastating disease caused by a lack of vitamin C, which was common among sailors at the time. Tragically, many of the St. Peter’s sailors, including Bering himself, succumbed to the disease. Nevertheless, his legacy endures in the Bering Strait and the Bering Sea.
1. Peng Jiamu
Peng Jiamu, born in 1925, was a renowned scientist and explorer who embarked on numerous expeditions across his homeland of China. Traveling by foot, donkey, or canoe when motorized vehicles were unavailable, he ventured through some of the country's most challenging terrains. Among his most remarkable journeys was his crossing of the Lop Desert, a harsh landscape infamous for its scorching heat, often reaching 120˚F (50˚C), and relentless winds. Located in Xinjiang's Uigur Autonomous Region in northwest China, the Lop Desert once served as a significant stop on the ancient Silk Road.
During an expedition to the Lop Desert in 1980, after five grueling days navigating dunes and dry riverbeds, Peng and his team found themselves critically low on supplies and water. One morning, his companions discovered that his tent was abandoned. He had left behind a note stating that he was heading out alone to search for water, but he never returned. Despite extensive search efforts organized by the Chinese government, Peng’s fate remains a mystery to this day.
