From Cooper Creek, Burke and three companions head north and eventually reached the Gulf of Carpentaria. Somers follows the trail to the beaches of the Gulf before turning south as Burke did 150 year earlier. In Cooper Creek Burke's companions waited the three months as he had instructed and then hung on for a whole extra month before giving up hope and presuming him dead. On the morning of April 21st, 1861 they abandoned camp and headed south. Just 9 hours later a terminally exhausted Burke with 2 surviving companions stumbled into the camp to find it deserted. Emergency supplies were not enough to save them and Burke died of starvation two months later in the arms of fellow Irishman John King - the only survivor of the northern party.
