In 1913 after losing the presidential election Roosevelt was very depressed and secluded. He was invited to Brazil to speak when a minister told him about an uncharted river, Rio da Duvida, the River of Doubt. Mr. Roosevelt was intrigued by the idea finding that it was a way to be with his son and to push his physical limits to the test.
With Roosevelt were 21 other men including the famous Brazilian explorer Colonel Candido Mariano da Silva Rondon. Though they were anticipating the river the group had to endure over a month long of trekking through the area to get to the headwaters. On their way they lost nearly half of their supplies, but they decided to go through with their original plan; Canoe the entire, unknown river.
Once their journey began trouble struck. The first man to die was a comaradas named Simplicio who drowned trying to save Kermit’s, Roosevelt’s son, overturned canoe. Kermit nearly died as well, but he got through the rapids quick enough to save his life. Food was scarce so they would go up river banks looking for berries or meat (monkeys were allegedly eaten by them). However one day a hot tempered Porter began to steal food and in his desperation he killed another member of the group.
As they traveled down the rapids the came to a large waterfall when Roosevelt saw this he begged his son to leave him behind so they could live; again they refused to. Kermit, who had amazing rope tying skills, told his father that he could lower him down the drop off to the waters below. Teddy realized the only way to save his son was to let his son save him.
In the end their group of 21 went down to 19 after the loss of three men and the river was renamed the Rio Roosevelt because of his journey that uncovered the entire river. Teddy and his son lived, but all the men suffered for it. Roosevelt had Malaria on and off throughout the rest of his life as did many others in the group.
