Perilous Pursuits

Source: Firefly_Generative AI- A collage of images depicting perilous adventures. A lone hiker on a mountain peak

Read about millionaires whose pursuit for adventure and thrill ultimately led to their deaths.

Ever since we evolved into human beings, and even before that, the allure of adventure and the desire to achieve something which hasn’t been done before has made people embark on adventurous journeys. These pursuits are driven by their curiosity, thirst for knowledge and thrill, and simply a love of the unknown.

There have been many instances in history when someone’s adventure has become a boon for the rest of the civilization. But many-at-times, there have also been incidents in which even the wealthiest and the most powerful people on the planet have suffered because of the dangers such journeys involve. In such cases, it hasn’t taken long for a thrilling journey to turn into a fatal one.

Michael Rockefeller (1961)

Michael Rockefeller was the son of New York governor Nelson Rockefeller and was part of one of the wealthiest families in America at that time. He had a passion for exploring and going to places which were home to remote cultures. And so, he set out on a trip to New Guinea in 1961, so that he could collect artifacts to keep in the Museum of Primitive Art, located in New York.

To reach New Guinea, Rockefeller and his companion, René Wassing, were traveling in a small boat which was suddenly capsized roughly 14 miles from the shore. Rockefeller felt like he could make it to land and let go of the boat to swim to the shore. After this, he was never seen again. As soon as the news spread that New York’s governor’s son was missing, many rescue attempts were made to find the scion of one of America’s wealthiest families. But he wasn’t ever found and 2 to 3 weeks later, he was declared dead because of drowning. His body was never found and many theories also emerged which explained that he might have been found, killed, and eaten by a local tribe. It is all, still, a mystery.

David Koch (1991)

David Koch was one of the richest men in America, a prominent philanthropist, and a Republican donor as well. He was involved in several business ventures which just added continuously to his immense wealth and the man was known for his deep love for nature too. But as luck would have it, this love is what led to a fatal mistake.

In 1991, Koch had gone for hiking in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park. But while he was hiking, he fell down a steep slope and was fatally injured.

Rescue helicopters were sent to check on the billionaire who was rescued eventually, but this experience had been fatal enough to cost him his life, if something had gone wrong. Koch had also survived a plane crash in the same year which had, otherwise, killed 33 people. Whatever the case may be though, both of these examples serve as a reminder that wealth cannot really protect anyone from fate.

Steve Fossett (2007)

Another self-made millionaire and aviation enthusiast, Steve Fossett was known for breaking several records with his solo flights and sailing achievements. He had worked hard to amass immense wealth through his work on Wall Street but his passion for adventure and flying was what truly defined him- he had set 100 records in aviation, sailing, and ballooning!

On September 3rd 2007, Fossett had gone for a brief flight in Nevada and had done so to scout locations for future record attempts. He never returned.

The news of his disappearance was very sudden and an extensive search was conducted to find him. About 13 months later, the remains of his plane crash were found in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Investigators explained that he had likely encountered severe downdrafts which made it difficult to fly and eventually led to the crash. At the request of this wife, he was soon declared legally dead at the age of 63. His adventure spirit, although inspiring, could do nothing to prevent this untimely accident.

Petr Kellner (2021)

Czech Republic’s richest man and investment tycoon, Petr Kellner is also in this list of untimely incidents faced by millionaires, who unfortunately couldn’t escape the trials of death.

Keller, 56, had found the PPF investment group which had global assets worth 44 billion Euros and his fortune was put at 17.5 billion dollars by Forbes. On March 27, 2021, he had gone with a party of four other people, for Heli skiing in Alaska’s back country near the Knik glacier. The helicopter in which the group was travelling crashed into a mountain and rolled 800 or 900 feet downhill. It was an instant death for Kellner and only one person survived this crash in the party of five.

The Ocean gate incident (2023)

The sinking of the Titanic in 1912 was a very historical event and has invited the attention of many people for years to come. One such group of people was so curious about this Maritime accident that they set out on a submersible trip to view the ruins of the Titanic in the North Atlantic Ocean. This included 5 men out of which one was a teenager- British explorer Hamish Harding, OceanGate’s CEO Stockton Rush, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, and French Maritime and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet were the crew.

This adventurous mission ended in disaster when their submarine vanished 2 hours after starting the journey. It was reported later by OceanGate that the whole crew was “lost at sea” and the wreckage had been discovered later by the US coast guard who described it as “consistent with catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber.”

This was a big blow because each member had paid around 250,000 US dollars to ride on the submarine. Each of them had a zeal for extreme adventure and were surely not expecting something like that to happen. It was later reported that Suleman Dawood didn’t really want to go on the expedition but went to make his dad happy. This finding adds more to the tragedy as five people lost their lives to adventure.

All the other stories are just as tragic because all travelers went on their expeditions for their own curiosity and weren’t doing anyone any harm. Their thirst for knowledge and desire to explore and charted territories ultimately made them pay the price for their ambitions.

Resources

Michael Rockefeller (1961)

Harvey, A. (2023, September 29). Michael Rockefeller’s Disappearance, From The History Uncovered Podcast. All That’s Interesting; All That’s Interesting. https://allthatsinteresting.com/history-uncovered/michael-rockefeller
Hoffman, C. (2014, February 20). What Really Happened to Michael Rockefeller. Smithsonian Magazine; Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/What-Really-Happened-to-Michael-Rockefeller-180949813/

David Koch (1991)

David Koch, Billionaire Who Fueled Right-Wing Movement, Dies at 79 (Published 2019). (2024). The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/23/us/david-koch-dead.html
Grad, S. (2019, August 23). David Koch survived a fiery jet collision at LAX in 1991. He said it transformed his life. Los Angeles Times; Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-08-23/david-koch-survived-a-fiery-jet-collision-at-lax-in-1991-he-said-it-transformed-his-life

Steve Fossett (2007)

Remains Are Found at Site of Fossett Plane Crash (Published 2008). (2024). The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/03/us/03fossett.html

Petr Kellner (2021)

News, B. (2021, March 29). Czech billionaire Petr Kellner is among five killed in Alaska crash. Bbc.com; BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56567002

‌The Ocean gate incident (2023)