Aussie adventurer Don McIntyre and his crew will suffer same depravations on 4000-mile voyage to Timor
An audacious bid to recreate the 4000-mile journey of Captain William Bligh following the mutiny on HMS Bounty began this morning.
Led by Aussie adventurer Don McIntyre, the four-man crew taking part in the attempt boarded an open boat almost identical to the one used by Bligh and were cast adrift off the coast of Tonga at 11am local time.
The voyage has begun 221 years almost to the day of the infamous mutiny, which saw Bligh and 18 of his crew packed into a launch and left to their fates by mutineer Fletcher Christian.
The reenactment will see McIntyre and his crew attempt to navigate to Tonga, 4000 nautical miles to the west, along the same route used by Bligh.
His team will suffer the same depravations as those experienced on the original voyage, carrying only a two-week supply of water, no navigational charts, and little food.
The only nod to the modern on the seven-week voyage will be a computer to communicate with shore and emergency safety kit.
“We’re incredibly excited to start the expedition today and feel close to the experience of Captain Bligh and his crew; however everyone aboard the Talisker Bounty Boat will be pushed to the limit of endurance and survival, forever hungry and unsure of everything, except their own desire to fight through this,” McIntyre said.
Through the journey, he hopes to raise $250,000 for the Sheffield Institute of Motor Neurone Disease, which is building the world’s first research institute for Motor Neurone Deaseae, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
