http://lostcontinentlibrary.blogspot.com/2009/04/col-fawcett-and-z.html
My Diary
I actually started writing this book over twelve years ago but put it on hold when I became interested in the Rennes-le-Chateau Mystery and concentrated on deciphering the clues a 19th century priest, Berenger Sauniere, hid in his church decorations. Which I then followed up with a book called Lost Tomb of the Knights Templar. Originally, Amazon Adventure was to be a non-fiction documentary type novel as I planned to go to the Amazon jungle to see if I could find Dead Horse Camp, and using the information I had learnt about Colonel Fawcett, try to follow in his footsteps to see if I could discover what happened to him, Jack and Raleigh. This would then form the basis of my book. However, short of funds for the trip at the time and now having left it for so long, others have now done this – Benedict Allen with his Bones of Colonel Fawcett TV series and more recently David Grann with his The Lost City of Z.
With Brad Pit soon to play the starring role in a film about Fawcett I thought now was a good time to finish writing Amazon Adventure, albeit with a few changes. It would no longer be non-fiction documentary type of book but an exciting action fueled archaeological thriller. Or so I hope.
With the excellent feedback I was receiving for my Lost Tomb book, and my experience writing Beginnings, my fiction novel about my discoveries, I knew I could do the Fawcett Mystery justice and weave the facts, legends and stories that surround the expedition’s disappearance in 1925, into a great novel.
November 2009
As previously mentioned, as Grann had already done what I had planned to do, I changed the book into an adventure novel. Like others I had always wanted to read about the discovery of Fawcett’s Lost City, what did it look like, who built it and why, and to find out the source of “…the lights that never went out.” and so I set out to fulfill this want in my book.
I decided to set the story in the present-day with flashbacks to the 1925 expedition. I soon had the main plot of the story worked out, but I needed a good reason for an expedition to go into the jungle 87 years after Fawcett disappeared. My solution was to have new information about the 1925 Fawcett expedition to become known. You can read about this in the advance chapters I have posted on my Amazon Adventure website.
The Main Characters were quite easy to create, a hero (Ben Fawcett) and heroine (Kate Raleigh) were essential, as was a good ‘baddie’ (Thiago). Read about these and the other Characters here.
I have finished Thiago’s background and the story that brings Thiago into contact with the other expedition members. Still not sure as to what Ben and Kate’s professions will be yet.
Chapters – 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, some later chapters and the ending completed.
January 2010
Added two advance chapters to read. PROLOGUE 1 AND PROLOGUE 2
Lost Tomb of the Knights Templar by Ben Hammott
Lost Tomb of the Knights Templar by Ben Hammott
A Rennes-le-Château Mystery
100 years ago a French priest embedded clues in his church leading to a secret location.
Those clues have been solved.
That location has been found.
The SECRET is revealed!
Lost Tomb of the Knights Templar by Ben Hammott
Back Cover Text
Treasure, Tombs, Secret Codes and Hidden Clues, a Brutal Murder, the Knights Templar and 2000 year old Relics, are all parts of a Mystery to be solved. It could be the premise for a new archaeological thriller. Except that it is real.
What begins as a treasure hunt and a bit of fun and adventure, leads an Englishman to the tiny French village of Rennes-le-Château, where he unlocked a mysterious puzzle set up by a priest 100 years ago.
Abbé Bérenger Saunière (1852-1917) became mysteriously and fabulously rich after finding a hidden parchment in his Church of Mary Magdalene.
As many believe, the mysterious priest had embedded clues in his church decoration leading to a treasure or a secret, & the source of his wealth. When Ben Hammott enters the church he soon spots something that everyone else has somehow missed – a key that deciphers some of the embedded clues.
Painstakingly deciphering and following the clues, Ben is led to a discovery of 2000-year-old artefacts, a treasure of gold, and a Knights Templar Tomb containing a shrouded body!
Digging up Danger – Unearthing the Truth – What Secrets will the Tomb Reveal?
Read Lost Tomb of the Knights Templar Chapter 1 – low-res PDF
Praise for Lost Tomb of the Knights Templar by Ben Hammott
“This book is good to read, I enjoy it so much. It make me laugh and so very interesting I read it again. I very much like the so many photos. I want more to read.” F.T.G Finland
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Tea-Drinking and Excavations: The Adventures of Ben Hammott at the Ninja Dixon Blog
In November last year I saw, and wrote an review of, Bruce Burgess documentary Bloodline. I’ve seen work by Mr Burgess before, and though I like him as a character and the subjects he focuses on, I’ve always felt that he is very, very uncritical. Bloodline is, of course, about the theory that Mary Magdalena and Jesus had children and that their dad probably survived and moved to France, or just died on the cross and was buried there. This is not a new theory at all, but it became very popular when Dan Brown hit gold with The Da Vinci Code. The first time this was mentioned was in the nine or tenth century, and has been discussed ever since. Anyway, I wrote about the documentary and also about a detail that I thought was fishy – and good some unexpected feedback.
Bloodline features Ben Hammott (an anagram for The Tomb Man), a British hobby-researcher that claims that he found a tomb outside Rennes-le-Château. He found it through decoding the clues that the priest Bérenger Saunière has buried around the landscape. Bruce follows Ben on the hunt, and they also finds some interesting stuff and films the tomb! This is sensational stuff, but somehow it’s TO good. It’s like a movie, a novel. Something made up using wild imagination. But still, it has nothing to do with UFO’s, Bigfoot, Yetis or ghost – so why not.
Ben commented on my second post about the Bloodline-documentary, and he’s a nice bloke and obviously a good salesman too, so I bought his monster of a book, over 600 pages of facts about his quest for the treasure and tomb: Lost Tomb of the Knights Templar! So, what do we have here? First of all, it’s a very detailed account of his interest in the Rennes-le-Château-mystery, from how he first saw a documentary about it on TV and how this led him to go on expeditions first together with his brother Mick and then together with other fellow researchers. What happens in the documentary seem to take five minutes, which raised my suspicions about a hoax, but according to the book it involved more people over a long period, and many hours on every place they found a lead. But that would probably be to boring to show in a documentary.
Some stuff is… no, I just don’t agree with Mr Hammott on everything. It seem to far-fetched. But on the other hand, there’s stuff that’s very impressive. Would you risk everything, many years of your life, career, friends, family, to just make such an elaborate hoax? Maybe, but the down-to-earth style of Ben Hammott makes me believe that he’s on to something here. He also himself admits to stuff that some of his critics had said before and after – and also seem convinced that some of the leads was made to “real” leads by Saunière by just using the details in them without changing anything himself, which seem more logical in many of the cases.
But 600 pages of dry facts, turning of stones and walking in the French forests wouldn’t be so interesting if it wasn’t good written, and to my surprise (I have to admit), it’s not a bad writer we have here. Ben writes with a lot of that classic British dry humor, with small witty remarks – sometimes a bit to mean – but still very funny. If you’re not that interested in the mystery, this is also quite a good travel book with a lot of information about culture, nature, food and friendships. And tea-drinking. LOTS of tea-drinking.
My advice to you who are interested, is to read the book first (the link is to Ben Hammotts official site). After that, go buy the DVD and see some of the stuff for real. Lost Tomb of the Knights Templar is the child of Ben Hammott, and it shows. This is his life (and I hope his wife can stand him!) and his labor of love and passion.
I’m still a skeptic, but boy, this was great reading!
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“Hello Ben. I just finished reading your book in January. I am very impressed with it and it was probably my favorite read of 2008! I have been following Bruce and his documentary for about a year and a half now, and was very excited to hear that you were writing a book on the bloodline topic, and your findings in Rennes le Chateau. I think the photos included in your book made me understand the findings in more detail, good job. It was very well written, and I thoroughly enjoyed your sense of humor throughout the book, regardless of the seriousness of the topic. It truly is an incredible journey you have been on, and I hope it is not the end for you. Congratulations on your findings, on your book, and everything else, and best wishes for you and your discovery in the future.” ( Josh Speers)
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“Hi Ben! Just finished the book, and i must say that i am quite amazed. As a reader of the RLC mystery for several years, i not afraid to say, that your discoveries gives the mystery a whole new dimension. A journey filled with excitement!” (HD – Denmark)
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“I was a skeptic, and then I read your book, I am a skeptic no longer. I absolutely loved the book and your writing style. What an exciting quest you have been on and thank you for sharing it.” (DW Canada)
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“Hi Ben, I just finished your book, I love it, fascinating & fun.” (JG)
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“Loved the book. Very interesting and very easy to read. The 100’s of photo really brought the story alive. I bought your book, Lost Tomb of the Knights Templar, after watching the Bloodline movie and boy am I glad I did. It fills in a lot of stuff not included or just hinted at by the movie. The clue solving was amazing. Great stuff Ben. You get 10/10 from me. (ST UK)
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“I’ve found your book to be very informative and entertaining. I enjoy very much the way you have told your story.” (Mario-Austrailia)
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“…very interesting… I recommend this book to anyone interested in the Rennes-le-Chateau mystery.” (LH-USA)
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“Congratulations! Absolutely amazing! I love it! Well done Ben, well done!” (Holger – Germany)
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“… one of the best books I have read in many a year… It is always a good sign that I didn’t want to put the bloody thing down… it was like I was also there on your journey, experiences and discoveries. So I would just like to thank you in a big way as been waiting for something like this for many a year, well since I read The Holy Blood and Holy Grail.” (Ali New Zealand)
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“One of the best books I have read…Beg, borrow or buy this book… you will not be disappointed”. (Alan Scott)
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“Great book, buy it!” (Shadowfox) – “Fantastic book, well done Ben.” (T.P)
Brazilian Adventure by Peter Fleming
Brazilian Adventure by Peter Fleming – essential reading for anyone interested in this country of 8.5 million square miles and some 145 million people. He reports on the terrors and trials he experienced on his expedition in search of the famous missing explorer, Colonel Fawcett, and his team.
Brazilian Adventure by Peter Fleming
Amazon (UK) £10.63 and from £6.01 new or from £5.49 used
Amazon (Com) $12.71 new and from $3.03 used
Product Description
In 1925 Colonel P. H. Fawcett embarked on a journey into a dangerous and largely unexplored region of Brazil in search of a Lost World and was never seen again. Fleming’s interest in Fawcett’s disappearance leads to him answering an advertisement to join an expedition to explore the rivers of Brazil with the aim of ascertaining Fawcett’s fate.
Amazon Reviews
Amazing Adventures in Brazil!
I read Peter Fleming’s, excellent “News from Tartary” and wanted some more. These tales are from a lost time, when parts of the world were still untouched by all of us. Made me laugh out loud so many times. But what did happen to Colonel Fawcett?? Does anyone know? (Justin)
Compelling reading
A hilarious, gripping account of 1930s Englishness facing the wilderness of the Pantanal. A great adventure from cover to cover, which also details the beauty of the wildlife they encountered and compels the reader to visit, in the hope that some of it is still there today. The book is also fascinating from an historical point of view, showing awful colonial attitudes towards the indigineous people of Mato Grosso and the tendancy to shoot everything that moves whether for food or fun. Flemings unceasing competitive nature and determination to succeed in every mission are a great inspiration to all travellers. Extremely entertaining. (Rosemary)
A wonderful book!
A cracking adventure, written in a beautifully tongue-in-cheek style. Think the bastard offspring of PG Wodehouse and Douglas Adams (if that were physically possible. Or desirable) venturing into the depths of unchartered Brazil on little more than a whim. (Dick Dashwood)
The Lost City of Z by David Grann ( 2009 )
The latest book about Colonel Fawcett is The Lost City of Z by David Grann ( 2009 )
After stumbling upon a hidden trove of diaries, acclaimed New Yorker writer David Grann set out to solve “the greatest exploration mystery of the twentieth century”: What happened to the British explorer Percy Fawcett and his quest for the Lost City of Z?
The Lost City of Z by David Grann ( 2009 )
Visit Grann’s website for more info and excerpts from the book.
Although he never finds the Lost City he does find something that he thinks might be, you will have to make up your own mind. The book has received favourable reviews and will be of interest to all those eager to read more about Fawcett’s disappearance and the Amazon jungle. It is available from Amazon (Com) $16.00 Amazon (UK) £9.30 and many other book sale websites.
Amazon Reviews
A Gut-Wrenching History of Amazon Jungle Explorations
If you like to know about real-life adventures, you’ll enjoy this book. David Grann writes convincingly in grisly detail about the many dangers and drawbacks of hacking your way through the Amazon jungle to find what might remain of “lost” cities described in legend.
The Amazon basin has been home to many extravagant legends — El Dorado (where gold is used like talcum powder), Amazonians (beautiful, but dangerous, female warriors), strange “white” men, and bizarre cannibals. One of the most determined seekers in the jungle was British Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett, one of the most highly decorated South American explorers in the first part of the 20th century, and a former spy and military officer.
The Lost City of Z recounts Fawcett’s last expedition into the jungle, from which he did not return. Since then, lots of people have launched unsuccessful, an often lethal, searches for him. David Grann makes his own, following a route that careful research suggests may have been where Fawcett went. The book’s conclusion will surprise you.
The story is written on several parallel planes: Fawcett’s life; Grann’s search for Fawcett; other searches for Fawcett; and the history of exploration into the blank areas of the global map. At first this will seem disjointed and a little precious. By the end, the parallel story lines wrap around one another to make one compelling tale. It’s a very clever design that I admired very much while reading and appreciate even more now.
The book’s strength is that you will get a sense of how dangerous and difficult it was to explore in the Amazon jungle. If one thing didn’t get you, something (or someone) else did. Fawcett was blessed by amazing stamina, great physical strength, remarkable ability to learn indigenous languages, charm that worked on those who were about to kill him, and a seeming immunity to the worst of the various illnesses that usually beset jungle adventurers. He also didn’t like those who didn’t keep up or questioned his approach . . . a very hard man to follow, indeed.
The book’s weakness is that it deals too superficially with many of the most interesting aspects of the story such as the anthropology of the Amazon basin as understood today, the prior Amazon booms (such as the rubber boom), and the ways that explorers learned their craft.
I was very impressed by the research that Mr. Grann did to look for Fawcett’s route toward Z. That aspect of the story is almost as good as the better murder mysteries that I enjoy. It’s well told, as well.
I thought that his self-descriptions otherwise were a bit overdone and often didn’t ring quite true. Could there have been some exaggeration added for effect? (Professor Donald Mitchell)
Too Disjointed and Diluted for Me
A few months ago, I heard the author interviewed on a radio talk show about this book. I generally like travelogues in which a modern journalist undertakes some kind of journey linked to the past (for example, retracing Marco Polo’s route), so I was intrigued by Grann’s search for the truth about a British explorer who disappeared into the Amazonian jungle in 1925. I had also read several of Grann’s lengthy essays in The New Yorker, and found them all very compelling despite covering quite disparate topics.
The main thread is a retelling of the life and adventurous times of British explorer extraordinaire Percy Fawcett. This is not exactly a new story (Fawcett wrote a ton, as did his brother, son, and others), but Grann manages to unearth a few new sources, thus adding to the historical record. Fawcett’s claim to fame was his prodigious work mapping the area around the Bolivian and Brazilian border, which involved epic struggles against the Amazonian jungle. The second storyline is the archaeological/anthropological/historical debate about whether or not the Amazon could have ever supported large-scale civilizations that could have built “lost” cities. The third strand is Grann’s own journey through archives, and eventually into the Amazon in search of Fawcett’s last known location and his top-secret destination.
While there are nuggets of interesting material throughout, the to-ing and fro-ing between storylines and periods makes for a rather disjointed and diluted read. As a result, the material on Fawcett ends up feeling mostly like a potted history of established material (except for his tracking down of one of Fawcett’s granddaughters, who rather incredibly has old notebooks of Fawcett’s that Grann is allegedly the first to see). At times, it seems like even Grann grows weary of distilling the Fawcett lore (for example, when he glosses over some of the rescue attempts, including ones by an American WWI vet and one by “a band of Brazilian bandits”!). Meanwhile, the controversy over Amazonian civilization is carefully built up over the course of the book, which makes it feel somewhat gimmicky when Grann finally pulls away the curtain to reveal what the latest research indicates. He must have known all this early on, but chooses to withhold it for a rather stagey “revelation” at the end. But his own role in the book is so understated and undramatic that it’s not surprising he resorts to this construction in order to enliven the story and add some much-needed drama.
On the whole, it’s not a bad tale, just one that’s a little too drawn out for my taste and depends a little too much on teasing the reader. The one element that was consistently surprising and interesting to me was the natural danger present in the Amazon areas Fawcett trekked in. Finally, as a postscript, it dawned on me about twenty pages in that many years ago, as a child, I had encountered a fictionalized Fawcett in the pages of an old Tintin (The Broken Ear), which features a hermit-like white man in the jungle named “Ridgewell” who must have been based on the real Fawcett. (A. Ross)
Highly Recommend This One — a review of The Lost City of Z
I rather imagine that “The Lost City of Z ” is going to be in my Top 10 Reads of 2009. I say this because it’s a book that has so much going for it: Adventure, Mystery, Tantalizing Facts… not to mention that it is well written.
The book is about Sir Percy Fawcett. A member of the Royal Geographic Society, Fawcett was a remarkable explorer and a man who managed to captivate the attention of people around the world in the early part of the 20th Century. Newspapers and then radio shows reported on his many adventures, and he was the sort of person who people looked up to.
Sir Percy is of interest today not so much for his discoveries, but because of his disappearance. Imagine if you will, a man who seems indestructible. He disappears frequently into the wilds of the Amazon on numerous expeditions, and when he reappears, he is one of the few who managed to survive the parasites, the lack of readily available food, disease, and the unfriendly natives. Scores of men who travel with him succumb to violence and pestilence, and yet Sir Percy seems to thrive on the environment– very much like a tropical Lawrence of Arabia.
Now imagine that he out in the middle of the tropical rainforest, he finds pottery. Not simple pinch-pots, but beautifully decorated shards of ceramics. This relics are found in huge piles, along what appears to be the remnants of roads. Such findings, along with observations of various trusted tribesmen, is what caused Sir Percy to conclude that somewhere out in the Amazon that there was a lost city. A city he calls Z. (Pam Tee)
Exploration Fawcett
Essential reading for those interested in finding out more about Colonel Fawcett’s adventures in the Amazon jungle is the book by Lt.-Col. Percy Harrison Fawcett himself , Exploration Fawcett edited by his son Brian Fawcett (1953) (also published as Lost Trails, Lost Cities.
Exploration Fawcett Paperback
Exploration Fawcett can be found on internet book websites, including Amazon (UK) from £7.00 or Amazon(Com) from $30.00.
Amazon Reviews
This thrilling and mysterious account of Fawcett’s ten years of travels in forests and death-filled rivers in search of a secret city was compiled from manuscripts, letters and logbooks by his son. ‘ The disappearance of Colonel Fawcett in the Matto Grosso remains one of the great unsolved mysteries of today. In 1925 Fawcett was convinced that he had discovered the location of a lost city; he had set out with two companions, one of whom was his eldest son, to destination ‘Z’, never to be heard of again. His younger son, Brian Fawcett, has compiled this book from letters and records left by his father whose last written words to his wife were: ‘You need have no fear of any failure…’ Fawcett had tried to find lost cities for ten years: ‘ That the cities exist I know’. ‘a book of great power….should be read by everyone’ (Daily Telegraph)
One of the best features about the book is that it reads like fiction even though it is largely a commentary on actual events. The author, Lt. Col. Percy Henry Fawcett was a man of many talents. He was ranked highly in the army, was a keen sportsman, had a flair for languages and also designed national rail networks. In the first part of the twentieth century he was commisioned to discover lost cities deep inside the South American rainforests. Many of the his disoveries within the jungle seem like they are straight out of Hollywood blockbuster; anacondas up to 100 feet in length, a spider in a hotel room the size of a dinner plate killing residents, attacks from cannibals on the Amazon not to mention his famous disappearance when so close to realising his goal.
The book was written in the form of a diary and the fact that it was written to his family gives a feeling that you know the author personally. You also get a feeling for his enthusiasm to achieve the goal that may have ultimately cost him his life. Despite the dangers that he faced, he returned back time and time again to fulfill the task that had been asked of him. ( Mr M. Hardacre)
Great adventure story which reads like fiction as the previous reviewer said but is based on the great man’s diaries. Col P H Fawcett is one of those men bred by Empire to explore whether it be darkest Africa, the North West Frontier or the Amazon. Whether by force of will or by holding up his British passport the man could stop 100 Cannibals charging down a hill at him.
Loved this book and will re-read it again and again. I feel privilaged to have been some of the places mentioned in the book, which is one reason I was drawn to it, and his descriptions leave echo’s in my head when I think of them today. (Mr T. M. Wright)
AMAZON ADVENTURE
Amazon Adventure by Ben Hammott
Coming in 2010 AMAZON ADVENTURE (working title) the new novel that continues Fawcett’s quest to find his Lost City of Z
The date is 1925
The location is the Amazon Jungle.
Colonel Percy Fawcett, his son Jack and close friend Raleigh Rimmell, are looking for a lost City rumoured to be hidden in the unexplored regions of the cannibal inhabited jungle.
Dead Horse Camp is situated at the boundary of unexplored territory. Ahead lay the unknown, danger, and perhaps a Lost Civilisation.
The three explorers enter the jungle never to be seen or heard from again. Until now!
Present day – New information that reveals what befell the Fawcett expedition reaches the civilised world. A team is put together to travel to the Amazon jungle. Their task is to unravel the mystery and find the Lost City of Z.
But the journey to the Lost City is just the beginning. Inside lurks danger and a secret those guarding it will kill to protect. Survival will not be easy, escape impossible.
Fawcett’s adventure continues in AMAZON ADVENTURE Journey to Colonel Fawcett’s Lost City
Amazon Adventure will take you inside the Lost City to learn of its many secrets and dangers.
A thrilling story of adventure and discovery that weaves together an exciting blend of fact and fiction linked to the legends surrounding the lost Fawcett expedition and the mysterious Amazonian Jungle.
A Mystery in the Amazon Jungle
A MYSTERY
The date is 1925
The location is the Amazon Jungle.
Colonel Percy Fawcett, his son Jack and close friend Raleigh Rimmell, are looking for a lost City rumoured to be hidden in the unexplored regions of the cannibal inhabited jungle.
Dead Horse Camp is situated at the boundary of unexplored territory. Ahead lay the unknown, danger, and perhaps a Lost Civilisation.
The three explorers enter the jungle never to be seen or heard from again. Until now!
Present day – New information that reveals what befell the Fawcett expedition reaches the civilised world. A team is put together to travel to the Amazon jungle. Their task is to unravel the mystery and find the Lost City of Z.
But the journey to the Lost City is just the beginning. Inside lurks danger and a secret those guarding it will kill to protect. Survival will not be easy, escape impossible.
Fawcett’s adventure continues in AMAZON ADVENTURE Journey to Colonel Fawcett’s Lost City
(Link to my main website http://www.fawcettadventure.com)
Although a few non-fiction books have been written about the lost Fawcett expedition, using Fawcett’s diary and letters as inspiration, most end at Dead Horse Camp, Fawcett’s last known position. This is where Amazon Adventure begins and is the first book to continue Fawcett’s expedition to reach his Lost City.
Although the Amazon jungle hides its secrets well and does not relinquish them easily, Amazon Adventure will reveal some of them, including the source of the mysterious “…lights that never went out.”
Amazon Adventure will take you inside the Lost City to learn of its many secrets and dangers.
A thrilling story of adventure and discovery that weaves together an exciting blend of fact and fiction linked to the legends surrounding the lost Fawcett expedition and the mysterious Amazonian Jungle.
Fawcett's Lost City of Z 