Mystery disappearance of Devon's 'Indiana Jones' remains unsolved
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the disappearance of an intrepid famous Devon-born explorer who is believed to be the inspiration behind the iconic film character Indiana Jones.
Colonel Percy Fawcett, who was born in Torquay, went missing in 1925, while deep in the Brazilian jungle looking for a fabled lost city reputedly built by an ancient civilisation. His obsession was to find and prove the existence of indigenous lost city of Z, which has since been turned into a blockbuster film starring Charlie Hunnam, Robert Pattinson, Tom Holland, and Sienna Miller.
The team Fawcett enlisted in his final search included his eldest son, Jack, and friend Raleigh Rimell. Despite being plagued by insects and subjected to almost unbearable heat, he was determined to push on and find any surviving remains of the isolated lost city.
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However, the trio disappeared without trace, creating one of the most intriguing mysteries in the history of exploration. Despite many rescue expeditions no trace was ever found of the party.
Fawcett’s story and explorations inspired his peers and several generations of adventure writers and filmmakers, from Conan Doyle's The Lost World novel, to Disney Pixar's film Up. Fawcett has also appeared in Tin Tin.
On May 29, 1925, Fawcett wrote his final letter to his wife Nina from Dead Horse Camp, so named after his horse died there on an earlier expedition. Its bones were still visible as Fawcett wrote his letter.
Strangely, the coordinates he left his wife were different to those he reported to the North American Newspaper Alliance. An extremely secretive man, perhaps he did not want his location known in case he located the city before he could reveal it to the world.
He complained of the insects, and of the 'sheer misery' of their camp, but said Jack remained strong. He did voice concerns over Raleigh, who had a bandage over his leg for an unknown injury. He had refused the offer of turning back though.
He hoped to reach the isolated tribes in seven to 10 days, and push on from there.
"You need have no fear of any failure," were his final words. It was the last anyone ever heard of him.
By January 1927, the RGS accepted that the expedition was lost. Despite Fawcett insisting nobody should look for his body, many did - and it did not take long before they started to find evidence of his demise.
Commander George Dyott traced Fawcett’s trail to a village of the Nahukwá tribe in 1928, where the chief’s son had hanging round his neck a small brass plate marked ‘W.S. Silver and Company’ – a London firm which had supplied Fawcett with some airtight metal cases.
Dyott trekked on to the next tribe, known as the Kalapalos, who reported seeing smoke from Fawcett's camp fires for five days, and then nothing on the sixth day. They indicated to Dyott, in sign language, their belief that the party had been massacred.
Dyott thought the culprits were the Nahukwá, but they said it was a notoriously fierce group called the Suyá. Many agreed that he had been killed by one of the many tribes there, and 20 years later, a Kalapalo chief called Comatzi claimed to have killed them.
However, the bones that supposedly belonged to the men were analysed and found not to belong to Fawcett or his companions.
In June 1933, a theodolite compass belonging to Fawcett was found near the Baciary Indians of Mato Grosso by Colonel Aniceto Botelho. However, this was proven to have been left behind before he entered the jungle on his final journey.
No trace of Fawcett himself has ever been found. Speculation continues to run wild as to what happened to him.
Henry Costin, who accompanied him on numerous expeditions, said he built up excellent relations with tribes and was unlikely to have died at their hands. He felt they had simply perished in the inhospitable rain forest.
The story has continued to baffle, intrigue and amaze.
Fawcett was born in Torquay in 1867 at the Villa Devonia, which was later demolished and is now the site of Shirley Towers on Vane Hill Road. He came from an adventurous family as his father was a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS), while his brother was a climber and author.
Fawcett attended Newton Abbot Proprietary College, then joined the artillery in the army in 1886. That same year he met his wife Nina. They married in 1901 and had two boys, Jack and Brian, and a daughter named Joan.
In 1901, he also joined the RGS to study mapmaking and surveying. Using being a surveyor as a cover, he is said to have worked for the British Secret Service in North Africa.
With the British Army he travelled around the world before a posting took him to Spike Island in 1903. Yearning for adventure, in 1906 he was sent to South America to survey in Brazil where he befriended local chiefs and tribal leaders.
He served in the likes of Hong Kong, Malta and Ceylon - now Sri Lanka. In 1901,
Fawcett was a friend of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who is said to have used Fawcett's letters to create the 1912 novel The Lost World.