There was a French astronomer called Guillaume Legentil, who decided to observe the 1761 transit of Venus from Pondicherry in India. He sailed in a French frigate, but unhappily for him a war between England and France was in progress, and about this time Pondicherry was captured by the English, so Legentil had to turn back. Before he could reach land the transit was over, and all he could do was to make rough notes from the deck of this ship. Rather than risk a second delay he elected to wait in India for the next eight years, and observe the 1769 transit instead. Again he was unlucky, since clouds covered the Sun at the critical moment. Since the next transit was not due until 1874, Legentil set off for home; twice he was shipwrecked, and reached Paris after a total absence of eleven years to find that he had been presumed dead and that his heirs were just about to distribute his property.
I can't imagine anything remotely like that happening these days with the modern world's obsession with communication! He'd have 10 SMS's just by the time he got off the plane. Not likely be presumed dead!
