In the footsteps of giants: The Scots pioneer
Today’s Amazonian explorers are following in the intrepid footsteps of a Scots adventurer.
Dr James Murray was born in Glasgow in 1865, the son of William Murray, a grocer, and his wife, Janet Mcmurray. He studied zoology at Glasgow University and took art classes at Glasgow School of Art.
He went on to become a renowned biologist and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
Later in life, he developed a desire to explore. In 1907, at the age of 41, he served under Ernest Shackleton on the British Antarctic Expedition, an attempt to get to the furthest point of the South Pole, where he was in charge of Base Camp. Later with George Marston, he co-wrote a book, Antarctic Days, about the experience.
Four years on, he joined forces with explorer Percy Fawcett to chart the Amazon jungle at the Peru-bolivian border. But Dr Murray, unaccustomed to the rigours of the tropical regions, didn’t fare very well. In fact, his condition became so poor that Fawcett diverted the expedition to relieve him of the remainder of the trip. He briefly dropped out of sight as he recovered in a house in Tambopata, Peru.
When he reached La Paz in Bolivia in 1912, Dr Murray discovered that he had been presumed dead. Angry at perceived mistreatment at Fawcett’s hands, he wanted to sue. However, friends at the Royal Geographical Society advised him against it.
The trip was depicted in a 2009 book, The Lost City Of Z, by US journalist David Grann, and turned into a 2016 movie starring Charlie Hunnam as Fawcett, Angus Macfadyen as Murray and Robert Pattinson as fellow explorer Henry Costin.
In June 1913, Dr Murray embarked on what turned out to be his final expedition.
He joined a Canadian scientific venture as an oceanographer aboard the ill-fated sailing ship Karluk.
Two months into the trip, the vessel became trapped in Arctic ice. And after six months stuck at sea, Dr Murray and three other members of the team made a break across the ice for safety.
Trying to reach Wrangel Island, the group struggled, but refused to turn back.
The only hint of their subsequent fate was a sailor’s scarf belonging to seaman Stanley Morris later found buried in an ice floe. Murray and his companions are presumed to have died in the Arctic in February 1914.