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10 Famous Drowning Victims Trivia Quiz

I know...what a morbid topic! But there were too many interesting stories here to leave this topic fallow...someone had to do it. So bear with me as we discuss the sad but true endings for these famous folks...

A multiple-choice quiz by thejazzkickazz. Estimated time: 7 mins.

Author
thejazzkickazz

Time
7 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
87,198

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Very Difficult

Avg Score
4 / 10

Plays
1145

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. This famous explorer, discoverer of the Cape of Good Hope, was thrown overboard during a storm on an exploratory mission with Pedro Cabral. Name that explorer!
Hint

Vasco da Gama

Francisco de Coronado

Vasco Nunez de Balboa

Bartolomeu Dias

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Question 2 of 10

2. Which American poet lept drunk off of a steamship, with only the words 'Goodbye, everybody!' leaving his lips?
Hint

Ezra Pound

Hart Crane

Archibald McLeish

Joyce Kilmer

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Question 3 of 10

3. Another poet who died terribly young in a drowning incident, he was English and married to the famous author of 'Frankenstein'. What was his name?

Answer: (Full name or last name)

4. Probably the most well-revered poet of the Tang period in China, he is said to have drowned while drunk, attempting to embrace the reflection of the moon upon the delicate water of West Lake. Who was this famed poet?
Hint

Li Po

Po Chu-i

Tu Fu

Wang Wei

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Question 5 of 10

5. Living from 342-291 BC, this ancient Greek dramatist drowned in the waters near the Greek Piraeus while taking a swim. Which of these fellows fits this description?
Hint

Alcaeus

Aristophanes

Menander

Pindar

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Question 6 of 10

6. Another ancient dramatist of note, this time a Roman who lived from 190-159 BC. He drowned while on a mission to Greece where he wished to study the works of various ancient Greek playwrights. Who was this author of 'The Eunuch'?
Hint

Apuleius

Terence

Plautus

Plutarch

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Question 7 of 10

7. He was a Scottish playwright, who was moderately successful with the first two parts of an intended trilogy 'God and Mammon'. After having accepted a loan from George Bernard Shaw (with the idea that he would finish the third installment) he proceeded to write a historical play (to pay off the loan) which failed miserably. Heartbroken, he drowned himself off the coast of Penzance, Cornwall in 1909. Who was this sad fellow?
Hint

John Home

John Davidson

James Barrie

David Belasco

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Question 8 of 10

8. A famous British novelist and sufferer of several mental breakdowns, she drowned herself in the Ouse River, near her home for fear of another mental attack. Who was this author of 'Orlando' and 'The Voyage Out'?

Answer: (Full name or last name...who's afraid of her?)

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Question 9 of 10

9. Which famous explorer of Africa is believed to have drowned in 1806, during his second expedition to that continent?
Hint

David Livingstone

Mungo Park

Henry Stanley

Richard Burton

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Question 10 of 10

10. Another explorer, this time a Frenchman exploring North America, drowned while making his way to Trois Rivers, Quebec in 1642. Who was this explorer of the Great Lakes?
Hint

Jacques Cartier

Samuel de Champlain

Rene la Salle

Jean Nicolet

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. This famous explorer, discoverer of the Cape of Good Hope, was thrown overboard during a storm on an exploratory mission with Pedro Cabral. Name that explorer!

Answer: Bartolomeu Dias

When Dias reached the Cape of Good Hope in 1488, making him the first European to reach that point, he named it the 'Cape of Storms'. He proved prescient in 1500 when he drowned off the cape during a storm. This happened while Dias was accompanying Cabral on the mission which had previously reached the coast of Brazil (which Cabral claimed for Portugal).

Intended as a negotiatory mission to India, it ran into trouble at the Cape of Good Hope...7 of the fleet's 13 ships were lost.

2. Which American poet lept drunk off of a steamship, with only the words 'Goodbye, everybody!' leaving his lips?

Answer: Hart Crane

Crane, traveling on the steamboat Orizaba from Mexico to the United States, was drunk and miserable, having gotten into a spat with the wife of a friend, with whom he was having an affair. After a further altercation with some sailors that he had propositioned (he was known for his taste for sailors) he took his own life at only 33 years of age! One of his most memorable works was the poem called 'The Bridge', written in 1930.

3. Another poet who died terribly young in a drowning incident, he was English and married to the famous author of 'Frankenstein'. What was his name?

Answer: Percy Bysshe Shelley

Shelley, author of such poems as 'Queen Mab' and 'Prometheus Unbound', was married twice. His first wife, Harriet Westbrook, also had died of drowning in 1816, an apparent suicide. His second wife was the famous Mary Shelley (maiden name Godwin), who authored 'Frankenstein'.

In the summer of 1822, Shelley was sailing near La Spezia off the coast of Italy when a nasty storm came along, and the boat, called the Ariel, sunk. Shelley could not swim and drowned immediately.

Answer: Li Po

Spelled 'Li Bai' in pinyin (and pronounced lee-buy), he wrote some of the most memorable poems in Chinese history, including 'The Road to Shu (Sichuan) is Hard' and 'Drinking Alone with the Moon', the latter probably inspiring this tale of his drowning death. In actuality, the tale is likely apocryphal...Li Bai was a huge drinker and probably died of cirrhosis of the liver.

5. Living from 342-291 BC, this ancient Greek dramatist drowned in the waters near the Greek Piraeus while taking a swim. Which of these fellows fits this description?

Answer: Menander

The author of 'The Bad Tempered Man', he drowned while swimming, after having developed a cramp. Many fragments of his plays were not discovered until much later, their pages having been used to line Egyptian mummy cases!

Answer: Terence

Ironically, Terence set off to Greece in order that he may further study the works of Menander (see previous question), a playwright with whom he was very familiar having translated several of his works!

Answer: John Davidson

Davidson was 52 at the time, and owed a debt of 250 Pounds to Shaw. Needless to say, Shaw never got the money...

Answer: Virginia Woolf

Woolf was 59 when she committed suicide, but left us with a great legacy of novels, also including 'Mrs. Dalloway', 'To the Lighthouse' and 'A Room of One's Own'.

9. Which famous explorer of Africa is believed to have drowned in 1806, during his second expedition to that continent?

Answer: Mungo Park

Park was a Scottish surgeon, but had a love for exploration, and this love took him to Africa. His first trip led him up the Niger River from 1795-97. During his second expedition there, he was drowned after his canoe was attacked at the rapids of Bussa. Park left behind a tale of his first expedition, called 'Travels in the Interior of Africa'...not a catchy name, but an interesting volume.

10. Another explorer, this time a Frenchman exploring North America, drowned while making his way to Trois Rivers, Quebec in 1642. Who was this explorer of the Great Lakes?

Answer: Jean Nicolet

Nicolet was the first European explorer to reach Wisconsin, where he explored the Green Bay area among other places. His drowning death occurred on the St. Lawrence River during a storm. Like Shelley, he unfortunately did not know how to swim...strange for an explorer. Thank you for playing my quiz and remember...bring a life preserver with you on your boat!

Source: Author thejazzkickazz

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