Back at the end of April, I wrote about the Talisker Bounty Boat, which was setting out with a crew of four in an attempt to reenact the incredible journey of Captain Bligh, who was set adrift by the mutinous Fletcher Christian back in 1789.
The events leading up to that journey are well documented in The Mutiny on the Bounty, but in a nutshell, the British naval vessel the Bounty, was taken by mutineers and her captain, William Bligh, along with his loyal officers, were put off the ship in a small, 23-foot long open boat. Bligh and the men then proceeded to sail more than 3700 nautical miles, over the course of seven weeks, until the arrived safely at Kupang in Timor. The journey was long and arduous, and it is a miracle that they even survived. No one has successfully completed the journey since then. That is, until now.
Earlier today, the Talisker Bounty Boat made landfall in Kupang, West Timor, completing their epic journey and recreating that of the Bounty's officer in the process. The crew, which consists of Captain Don McIntyre, 18 year old Brit Chris Wilde, Australian Dave Pryce and Englishman David Wilkinson, set out without navigational charts, barely any food, just two weeks worth of water, and practically nothing else. Along the way they faced a number of hardships, including storms, the hot South Pacific Sun, kidney stones, and more.
The journey was undertaken for a good cause, as McIntyre and the rest of the boys, hoped to raise $250,000 for the Sheffield Institute Foundation for Motor Neurone Disease. The money will go to help find a cure for Motor Neurone Disease (MND), Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Definitely a worthy cause to be sure.
Congrats to the crew of the Bounty Boat on a job well done. I can't imagine what it was like out there for these guys.
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