The disappearance of an entire expedition is always a mystery. Trained people, polar explorers, explorers of the tropics, pioneers - disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Traces of some groups have never been found.
Expedition La Perouse
On August 1, 1785, the Comte de La Pérouse set off on a perilous voyage around the world on the ships Bussol and Astrolabe to systematize Cook's discoveries and establish trade relations with indigenous tribes.
During the first year of the trip, La Perouse rounded Cape Horn, visited Chile, Easter Island, and in July 1786 reached Alaska.
The following year, the explorer arrived on the shores of Northeast Asia, and discovered the island of Kelpaert there.
Then the expedition moved to Sakhalin - finding the strait, which now bears the name of the count. At the end of 1787, La Perouse was already off the coast of Samoa, where he lost 12 people in a skirmish with savages.
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In the winter of 1788, the expedition transmitted the last message to the homeland through the British sailors. Nobody saw them again. Only in 2005 was it possible to reliably identify the place of the shipwreck, but the fate of La Perouse is still unknown. Most of his notes also perished with him.
"Terror" and "Erebus"
The two British ships, with 129 men on board, left Greenhight Pier on the morning of May 1845. Under Sir John Franklin's direction, they set out to explore the last blank spot on the Canadian Arctic map and complete the discovery of the Northwest Passage.
For 170 years, the fate of this expedition has haunted scientists and writers.
But all that was found during this time was only a few graves and two wintering camps.
Based on the findings, it was concluded that the ships were jammed in the ice, and the crew, suffering from scurvy, pneumonia, tuberculosis and extreme cold, did not shun cannibalism.
Walking through Australia
On April 4, 1848, the German explorer Ludwig Leichgard set off with eight companions. He planned to cross the Australian mainland from east to west on foot in three years.
However, after the agreed time, none of the members of this expedition showed up. In 1852, the first team went in search, followed by the second, then the third, and so on for seventeen years in a row.
Until one vagrant wandering around the mainland accidentally mentioned that he had lived for several months on the banks of the Muligan River with a certain Adolf Klassen.
When he found out that this is one of those who have been looking for so long, he went in search of him, but died on the way.
And only after a long time it became clear that Klassen had lived in captivity with savages for almost thirty years. They killed him in about 1876. With him, the last hope of learning about the fate of Leichgard and his expedition died.
Finding Arctida
In 1900, Baron Eduard Vasilyevich Toll on the schooner "Zarya" went on an expedition to search for new islands in the Arctic. Toll also firmly believed in the existence of the so-called Sannikov Land and wanted to become its discoverer.
In July 1902, the baron, accompanied by the astronomer Friedrich Seeberg and two hunters Vasily Gorokhov and Nikolai Dyakonov, left the schooner to reach the cherished Arctida by sleigh and boats.
Zarya was supposed to arrive there in two months.
However, due to bad ice conditions, the ship was damaged and was forced to leave for Tiksi. The next year, under the leadership of then lieutenant, Kolchak, a rescue expedition was assembled.
They found Toll's parking lot, as well as his diaries and notes. It followed from them that the researchers decided not to wait for the "Dawn" and continued on their own. No other traces of these four people were found.
Hercules
This is a small hunting ship, on which in 1912 the experienced polar explorer Vladimir Aleksandrovich Rusanov, together with the members of his expedition, went to the island of Spitsbergen in order to secure Russia's right to extract minerals before other countries.
Everything went well. But for unknown reasons, Rusanov decided to return through the northwestern tip of Novaya Zemlya, and if the ship survives, then go east to the first oncoming island. The telegram with his intentions was the latest news from the Hercules.
Only in 1934, on one of the islands near the coast of Khariton Laptev, a pillar with a carved inscription "Hercules 1913" was discovered. And on the neighboring island, things from Hercules were found: a nautical book, notes, pieces of clothing, etc. But the bodies of the members of the expedition were never found.
The main goal "Z"
In 1925, in the vastness of the poorly explored region of Mato Grosso, an expedition of three people disappeared: Colonel Percival Fawcett, his son Jack and their friend Reilly Raymilom. They all went in search of a certain lost city, which Fossett himself called "Z".
Much of this expedition is shrouded in mystery. It was funded by a group of London entrepreneurs called The Glove.
The colonel himself, in case of loss, asked them not to look for them, since all expeditions would suffer the same fate.
The last message from a group of researchers described how they wade through thickets, climb mountains and cross rivers and that, in fact, it's all very boring.
Nobody heard anything more about these three people. Now there are various rumors, starting with the fact that all of them were eaten by the Cannibal Indians, who are not uncommon here, and ending with the fact that Fawcett found the city "Z", met its inhabitants and did not want to go back.
Leontief group
In the summer of 1953, communication with the Tuvan expedition of Lev Nikolaevich Leontiev was interrupted. At the site of her last camp, the search engines found a still smoldering fireplace, tents and a full set of equipment.
However, there were no people or horses in the camp. The only hoof tracks led from the forest to the camp. All nearby expeditions set out in search. But they ended in failure. The Leontiev group is still listed as missing, and many theories related to its disappearance are still circulating on the Internet.