Failed expeditions that should/could have succeeded (and successful ones that could have failed)

So what if land or naval expeditions of OTL, that ended up in failure or even complete disappearance, succeeded and provided invaluable informations abou new lands and sea routes ?

Conversely, which successful expeditions of OTL were far too lucky for their own good and could do with a sudden stop, nay total annihilation? And how would the world of then be less wise from it?
 
USA Northwest expeditions. This one has several opportunities for success/failure.

Spain tried a couple of times to explore territory they claimed (northwestern Louisiana Territory on over to Oregon/Washington), and failed. They also attempted to intercept Lewis-Clark. I think there was a WI on this a while ago. Would of been quite interesting if they did capture/turn back L-C. Potential for a major dust-up at a time before Spain has been knocked down by Napoleon, and was still opposed by Britain.

Alternatively, Lewis-Clark could have failed on their own. It's sort of magical that they waltzed through without much issue.

Sans warfare over L-C interception and resultant butterflies, I don't see much changing from OTL. Spain probably wouldn't have done anything with the territory had they been successful in pre Lewis-Clark expeditions. A failed L-C might have put a little smudge on the magic that seemed to shine on USA, but manifest destiny is still going to take root, so USA will just send another expedition.
 
Can we count military expeditions?

As long as they involve going into uncharted territory with exploration as their principal goal (you always can account for some collateral damage of course), knock yourself out.
 
They also attempted to intercept Lewis-Clark. I think there was a WI on this a while ago. Would of been quite interesting if they did capture/turn back L-C.

It just made me think of a possible funny timeline where the US keeps sending expeditions (gotta keep that Manifest Destiny symbol blazing ...) and Spain keeps capturing them... Not sure what would be the wider consequences, but it'd be worth a chuckle.
 
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