A British Explorer, Two Young Companions, and the Search for a Lost City
Percy Fawcett’s last known letter to his wife was dated 29 May 1925, from Dead Horse Camp in Brazil. He was travelling with his son Jack, twenty-one, and Jack’s friend Raleigh Rimell. Later Indigenous accounts describe their journey, but no surviving account establishes the party’s final fate.
Several expeditions searched for the missing party, sometimes at great risk. Often-repeated claims that more than a hundred searchers died are not a reliable count.
Modern archaeology has revealed substantial ancient Amazonian settlements. That supports a richer history of the region, not proof of Fawcett’s particular city of Z.
1925
Fawcett, Jack and Raleigh Rimell set out from Cuiabá in April 1925, seeking Fawcett’s proposed city of Z. His last letter was written at a camp called Dead Horse Camp. Beyond that point, the jungle gave nothing back.
Several
Into the Amazon before 1925. He survived every one. The jungle couldn't stop him — until it did.
Several sent
Search parties followed reports and rumours, but none established what happened to the three men.
100+ Years
No confirmed remains. No verified sightings. No proven explanation. Their final journey remains unresolved.
The Evidence
Dead Horse Camp, 29 May 1925
The final written communication from Percy Fawcett. He expressed confidence about continuing in Mato Grosso. His letter does not establish everyone’s medical condition. He told his wife Nina not to worry. The letter reached his family; no later message from the party has been confirmed.
The Smoke Account
The Kalapalo — an indigenous group whose territory bordered Fawcett's route — reported watching the three strangers walk past their village. Later oral accounts describe smoke visible in the travellers’ direction for several days, then no longer visible. They do not establish what happened after the party left.
How LiDAR Helps Researchers
A conceptual diagram shows how LiDAR returns can help model ground height beneath trees. These teaching shapes are not a survey of an Amazonian settlement or a map of Fawcett’s route.
Archaeological research reveals substantial ancient settlements in Amazonia. Those discoveries do not identify Fawcett’s imagined city or establish the fate of his expedition.
The Road into the Amazon
Manuscript 512
An unknown Portuguese explorer writes a detailed account of a ruined city in the interior of Brazil. The document is filed in the national library and largely forgotten — until Fawcett reads it.
First Amazon Expedition
The Royal Geographical Society sends Fawcett to survey the Bolivia-Brazil border. He begins eight years of Amazon expeditions — and starts noticing signs of something buried beneath the jungle.
The City of Z
Fawcett presents his theory of a lost Amazon civilisation to the Royal Geographical Society and begins planning the expedition that will define — and end — his life.
The Last Letter
Fawcett writes from Dead Horse Camp. The correspondence places the party at the camp. The message travels back from the camp. It is the last confirmed evidence of where they were.
The First Search
George Dyott leads a search expedition. He collects information from local communities but does not establish the final fate of the missing party.
Bones — But Not Fawcett's
Bones and personal items are found in the Mato Grosso region. Percy's surviving son Brian has them tested. The bones are not Percy's. The mystery deepens.
Amazonian History Investigated
Grann’s account renewed interest in the disappearance. Archaeological discoveries address the region’s settlement history; they do not resolve the expedition’s fate.
The People in This Story
Percy Harrison Fawcett
Born 1867. British Army officer, surveyor, and an experienced Amazon surveyor. He returned from several South American expeditions, some of which ended in retreat. He believed completely in the lost city he called Z — and he walked into the jungle to prove it.
Jack Fawcett
Born 1903. Percy's eldest son, twenty-one years old in 1925. He joined his father’s expedition in 1925. He had grown up on his father's stories of the jungle. He shared the journey, though his private expectations cannot be reconstructed. He was never seen again.
Raleigh Rimell
Jack's closest friend. Twenty-one years old, with no previous jungle experience. He trained hard to join the expedition. Before the final leg began, his leg was already badly swollen from an insect bite — a detail that troubles historians to this day.
David Grann
American journalist who spent years researching the Fawcett disappearance, learned Portuguese, and eventually entered the jungle himself. His 2009 book The Lost City of Z brought the mystery to a new generation and explored the region’s complex history.
Three Theories. No Proof.
Illness, hunger, injury and conflict have all been proposed. Which explanations have evidence behind them? Stories that Fawcett found Z and chose to disappear require evidence that has not emerged.
Kalapalo oral history is valuable evidence about the travellers and their route. It is not proof that the community witnessed their deaths or is hiding an answer.
Read the full book to examine every clue — then give your verdict.
Get the Full Book
The complete Percy Fawcett mystery. 9 chapters comparing clues, oral accounts and archaeological discoveries.
Part of the Vanished Volume
Ships found empty at sea. Explorers who never came home. Settlements whose people moved on, leaving questions behind. The clues are still out there.
See all books in this volume →Keep investigating
Check the evidence
What the evidence supports
Fawcett travelled with Jack Fawcett and Raleigh Rimell in 1925. His last known letter is dated 29 May from Dead Horse Camp. Later Kalapalo accounts describe the party’s departure but do not establish its final fate. Manuscript 512 describes a supposed Bahia discovery in 1753; it does not prove Fawcett’s proposed city in Mato Grosso. Archaeology establishes complex Amazonian settlements, including the Casarabe sites described in 2022.
Where to be careful
The party’s fate remains unresolved. Later oral accounts vary in details, including smoke timing. No confirmed discovery identifies Fawcett’s Z or shows the party reached it. Archival bone reports do not establish the 1951 remains as Fawcett’s.
Explore the sources
These selected sources support this guide and offer further reading. Some are written for adults; explore them with a parent or teacher.
- Royal Anthropological Institute: Fawcett papers A69
- Brazilian National Library: Documento 512
- Manuscript 512: Portuguese transcription and English translation
- Prümers et al. 2022: Lidar reveals pre-Hispanic low-density urbanism in the Bolivian Amazon
The story and illustrations are modern retellings. Imagined scene details are not historical evidence. These sources are a starting point, not citations for every narrative detail.
Evidence guide reviewed .