Explorers who don't vanish

John Cabot
the Corte-Real brothers
George Bass
Ludwig Leichardt
Joshua Slocum

WI the above famous explorers never mysteriously disappeared during their expeditions ? What further benefit could they have been to the cause of exploration etc ?
 
The first three, the Corte-Real brothers and John Cabot may very well have given Europeans a much better idea of a rather large section of northeastern North America much earlier. Any of those three may very well have laid claim or begun the colonization of the area much sooner than OTL, which would significantly change the course of the history of North America.

The others...can't say.
 
I honestly think Cabot was destined to disappear on his second voyage - that, or come home with nothing new to boast. He was going on a very ambitious journey to discover the Northwest Passage, at a time when people didn't know just how far north it was, nor how very impractical for shipping. He could have made the Hudson Bay, and I reckon if his plan went well he would have. However, from there...he's just discovered a colossal inland sea. In order to find the supposed passage he's going to have to essentially sail the entire coastline, that's around 4,500km, before he realises that the only way to keep sailing west is to go even further north, which his ships will probably be incapable of. By this point it would be a miracle if he hadn't lost at least one ship, and he has a pretty huge task getting back out again - for a start, he has to actually find the place he came back in. By this point he's going to have no supplies left and it's going to be getting towards winter, when the storms will be up and the water around him is freezing. In addition, there won't be much in the way of natives to trade goods for food, and fishing will probably be hard work. If he ever returns from that voyage, it's likely to be as a bedraggled survivor with no ship, catching a ride on a fishing vessel from Newfoundland, with no maps or physical proof of his exertions. By far the more likely possibility is that he disappears forever.
 
I honestly think Cabot was destined to disappear on his second voyage - that, or come home with nothing new to boast. He was going on a very ambitious journey to discover the Northwest Passage, at a time when people didn't know just how far north it was, nor how very impractical for shipping. He could have made the Hudson Bay, and I reckon if his plan went well he would have. However, from there...he's just discovered a colossal inland sea. In order to find the supposed passage he's going to have to essentially sail the entire coastline, that's around 4,500km, before he realises that the only way to keep sailing west is to go even further north, which his ships will probably be incapable of. By this point it would be a miracle if he hadn't lost at least one ship, and he has a pretty huge task getting back out again - for a start, he has to actually find the place he came back in. By this point he's going to have no supplies left and it's going to be getting towards winter, when the storms will be up and the water around him is freezing. In addition, there won't be much in the way of natives to trade goods for food, and fishing will probably be hard work. If he ever returns from that voyage, it's likely to be as a bedraggled survivor with no ship, catching a ride on a fishing vessel from Newfoundland, with no maps or physical proof of his exertions. By far the more likely possibility is that he disappears forever.

What if he explores the St. Lawrence and, taking it for the passage he seeks, heads in and follows it all the way to it's source, Lake Ontario?

He could easily sail up to Lake Ontario within a short amount of time, and return to England, perhaps with some maps or charts, perhaps some pelts (traded with the Algonquians?) and other curios, as well as (he had five ships for the last voayage) establishment of a base-camp of sorts on Newfoundland or Labrador (Nova Scotia?) for use in future expeditions, planning on returning and heading north at a later date while charting: The St. Lawrence, Nova Scotia, New Foudland and Labrador coasts (Landing in each place to claim the lands for England, of course; he's got to bring back something besides the charts) before returning to England.

If he concentrates his efforts in that region, he can get quite a bit accomplished, possibly establishing rudimentary trade with the local populations and perhaps trading posts that become the foundations for the first English settlements in the New World, over a century earlier than OTL.

I've often pondered Cabot's last voyage as a POD for an earlier English settlement of North America timeline as I think, even if he doesn't achieve his primary goal, he can get a lot done, compling a great deal of useful navigational data, charts, trade contacts and the establishment of a weigh station or two from which to sure up future expeditions in search of the Northwest Passage, he believes he'll find eventually.
 
I seem to remember reading some theory years ago that Cabot actually ended up sailing south past the Chesapeake and was eventually captured by the Spanish.

Another explorer for your list could be Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse. Or it could be interesting if Napoleon had La Pérouse's crew like he tried to.
 
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