The journey, from Tonga to Timor,in a tiny open boat, was one of the great achievements in navigational history.
The Taliska Bounty boat was so named for Taliska beer, its main sponsor).
You can follow the journey by visiting his blog, posted at
Don hopes to raise $4000 from supporters who are following his journey on the internet. He will donate the money to the Sheffield(UK) Institution for Science Neurology.
Here is his latest post:
We had a very touching ceremony at sunset beside the Talisker Bounty Boat when about 25 local Aborigines from Lockhart River all came across to the Island to give us their best wishes for a safe journey and present us all with very special "Giddy" beads...
I said a few words about Bligh and what he would have been thinking when here and how good it was that about 2600 sq. Km of land all around that area had recently been returned to their ownership..everything is so untouched up here.
Dave welcomes Bounty on arrival.
Feet finally on the ground for two nights in Restoration Island. Frankly, I do not know how Bligh left, or why. This is the closest I've been t
Once we sailed into the reef I was completely silenced by its beauty. Had I lived my life and never seen this part of the world, my life would have been an utter waste.... seriously..
The views are spectacular, the people remarkably friend, I feel completely at peace with myself here and I could happily stay on Restoration Island with several good books for weeks to come.
David Glasheen's hospitality has been a welcome gift after spending the last 30 days or so on Talisker Bounty Boat and the locals have been very supportive of our expedition.
Last night I enjoyed so much the company and discussions with interesting people, such a refreshing change for all of the crew having spent 24 hrs a day for the last month in each other's company... no offense intended and I know we will all feel the same, I am proud to be a part of the Bounty team. But... Dear Don McBligh can we stay just a little bit longer? Alas no... We set sail again at sun rise tomorrow for the last leg, 1400 miles to Timor.
I have thought a lot why I seem to find the expedition so far harder than the rest of the crew and come to the conclusion, that as David Quilter and Don are seasoned adventurous they are simply used to discomfort, they know when it is unpleasant, this too shall pass, and the gems are around the corner, I couldn't see them, only my return flight home. Chris is at a lovely age, when life is an adventure and approaches everything by throwing himself in with that lovely playful curiosity and I admire him for that... oh to be 18..
I've been around enough to develop an unhealthy "why am I putting up with this sh**" when the going gets tough, when its really miserable, I cheer myself up by reminding myself this trip has cost me enough for a world cruise and instead I am hungry, wet, tired and aching from head to toe...
However, I will share that I am so.... so.... grateful for the experience... I suspect I will only grasp the real value once I am at home reflecting upon the whole event.. Unlike the rest of the crew, I have children who I have left at home, and I miss them terribly, not even talking with them is horrible...
We all have different ways to manage discomfort and stress, by planning my departure I gave myself a slip road, escape route and rather than counting 26 days to go I was able to count down to restoration Island (7/8 days) knowing I then had the option to depart, as crazy as it may sound this made it much more manageable for me.
I really struggled, with both the diet, and surprisingly, the boredom, with no books or music to fill time, sitting for what felt like years in the crippling heat was slowly driving me insane.
With so much time and nothing to fill it with I found myself worrying about matters completely unnecessarily, my home, family, business, anything I could find to worry about I did, then all I wanted to do was leave.
I am pleased I couldn't and I am learning so much about myself, though it's not all pleasant, I would much rather report that I have discovered I am invincible, a strong man who can conquer the world...maybe not, but you know what I mean.
I am not going home and will be leaving with Talisker Bounty Boat tomorrow morning, when in doubt, I need to dig deep, have faith in my team and business partners at home and meditate...easy said looking across the beach from this arm chair!
Upon arrival at Restoration, I immediately went and found the material to make a small cam bed for myself, which I must say for a Hong Kong pen-pusher this is not small achievement, I was then advised to move it further back from the beach as crocodiles are less likely to go across the grass... CROCODILES.. OMG..... I hadn't considered being eaten by crocs.
How on earth can I sleep.. But believe me, after our yummy chicken stew, the first meal since Tonga, I lay down under my make shift home and slept like a baby for 7 hours.It was wonderful, I didn't even see the stars, I passed out to quick and awoke too late, with a BIG fat smile on my face, not least because I hadn't been eaten by crocodiles.
I estimate I have lost at least 8kg and other than my pants keep falling down, I confess to being very happy about that, (the weight not the pants).
The challenge will be to keep it off when I return. I know I shall take much greater care of myself and seek more balance in my life.
This afternoon, someone asked if this expedition will make a real difference to my future.
My reply was surprisingly prompt and I think sums up precisely how I feel. "I do not know what my future holds, I only know it will be very different from what I had previously imagined. I am looking from a different perspective and that really pleases me".
David W (not David Q)MESSAGE TO MY DAUGHTERS - Hi Lucinda and Isabelle - You won't recognize me when I am home, much more handsome, slim, tanned with a really cool beard... I am missing you both very much... Love Dad x
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted by Patron of Sheffield Institute Foundation at 1:38 AM 19 comments
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
"REPLIES TO BLOG COMMENTS"
Hi All...been a bit of fun catching up on a few of the comments that Stu our Blog master has forwarded to Restoration Island...looks like some will have to get a copy of the book one day when it finally comes out..it will tell many things but we will try to cover everything here but as you can expect it is challenging when at sea...anyway just to cover a couple of points...
I ring Margie twice a day..once in the morning and once at night..she is our Expedition headquarters.it is all about safety and expedition logistics...not just to check up on what is going on in the world...so yes it is very appropriate to stop the rest of the crew from using the phone for anything else other than logistics..which is what I have done..what happened with Dave he twisted that to be following his business and family interests which was unfortunately for him as it stops him from enjoying the experience out here and he knew the rules...so I have no problem with that..in fact I have bent all my own standards to try to accommodate him and let him satisfy his own mind...
Margie has now gone to Europe for 6 weeks on business and pleasure so I will not be ringing her each day any longer as Marketa is our new expedition manager and she will get my check in calls..all part of our sophisticated crisis management planning and we have a large team of qualified people handling that...
Seems to be some confusion from a member of the 1983 Child of Bounty trip as to why should the Govt. pay for the helicopter to Restoration Island and that we have it easy with sat coms etc...well firstly we are the fifth expedition now..one in 1975.Child of Bounty was the second in 1983..another in 1990..another in 1995 and now us..our is different than all the others..no big deal..not better or worse..just different...Customs have been great helping with a helicopter and correct me if I am wrong but in 1983 I thought the Govt. did the same thing and paid for a customs ship to be waiting at Restoration Island to clear them??..so a helicopter today is a lot cheaper than that and isnt it good that the Aust. Govt. is so forward thinking that they support this type of endeavor for the good of all..we were impressed yesterday with how efficient and friendly Customs and AQIS really were..NO we did not use their helicopter for Arial for our Documentary!..we will charter one from Horn Island later for that at our expense..yes we have GPS for safety reasons just as in 1983 I believe the Child of Bounty used an Argo satellite tracing system and the best Charts , Sextants etc of the time for navigation..that is all that they had in those days, but I do not believe Child of Bounty went off blind into the ocean like we have in many parts...that is why we were nearly wrecked on a reef twice on the way to Fiji..and stumbled across some banks in the Pacific!
Reine seems a bit confused about our approach to a few things so let me use the torch issue as an example...we set out not to use torches as Bligh had non...we we still have torches for safety reasons..what are the rules of engagement for torches..only to avert a high risk situation or official business...so if we are writing a blog at night we have to use the head torch..if we have been struggling at night in big seas trying to control the boat and it is getting dangerous and we may capsize the boat...then we will use our head torch to look at the compass...don't worry we have had plenty of very frustrating black nights and plenty of times using torches too when it hits the fan so it is a juggling act...
With the GPS..as an example...we set off from our unexpected Fiji stop ( not scheduled!) knowing our departure point...like Bligh we have a voyage plan..he had been planning his for three months before the mutiny to get the Bounty home..all the best publications at the time and previous voyage journals of many ship before him were studded hard to make that plan..we are using our one planning chart that cover half the world...we set off and immediately get into what is called "Plain Sailing"..all the westing is simply an addition of the hourly speeds listed in the ships log...that is it...then occasionally I take a noon sight to check the Latitude..north south position..which is no big deal as there is nothing to hit for a long time..so unlike Bligh I only do that occasionally...we are just Dead Reckoning our position to the west....the current adds a new dimension...I do not calculate my Latitude and longitude each day by tables as it is Plain sailing a very simple and very basic....so when the bottom appeared last week we were surprised and I was needing to get a noon sight to work out our latitude...north south position asap..to work out which bank it was...as it turns out we quickly found the sand cay and then saw on the one chart we have we were about the latitude of Diane Bank..so that had to be it..Bingo!..we have a fixed point...the funny part about all that was that our DR positions in the next few days went way out again with currents from everywhere...so I am not navigating like Bligh but I am doing it the same way...every day noon sights..this all become irrelevant when we then have to get to Boat pass and restoration Island...I have to use the GPS just to get there as I do not have an almanac or Tables to compute longitude..neither did Bligh..but he never needed to get anywhere specific...so it is different for us...
The other way we use the GPS is for safety..when we were pressed hard on a lee shore on a very Dark windy 2am morning with surf only minutes away we struggled to get off..once that was in progress I jumped below and immediately turned the GPS on the find out where the reef was going..it showed us on the reef!! and about half a mile from the end..that info was critical to our survival....When we got to Bligh water between the Fiji islands we planned to go through in daylight but in the end we were caught in very bad weather,..far too dangerous to slow down in or we would have capsized so we were trapped heading up into a blind alley and we were going to be there at night..no option but to use the GPS or we would have been wrecked...not a good idea...
It is hard for us to truly do things exactly as Bligh..he had to..we are volunteers..it starts from there...but we are forcing deprivations and hardships on ourselves but we are no being foolhardy or reckless....we know when the boundaries have been met...we have been doing it tough often...we are having it much better off than Bligh so I will not standing up at the end and saying we did it exactly like Bligh..I will be saying we have experienced some moments very similar to Bligh in a little boat ....I will watch the sixth re-enactment of Bligh's voyage with great delight as it is truly one of the greate3st open boat journeys of all time...I am loving it and am very happy to share so much of it with so many...makes for some interesting conversations but wait till you see the Book
.
Bligh's voyage in an open boat, from Tonga to Timor, is the gretest navigational history.feat i
We had a very touching ceremony at sunset beside the Talisker Bounty Boat when about 25 local Aborigines from Lock-hart River all came across to the Island to give us their best wishes for a safe journey and present us all with very special "Giddy" beads...I said a few words about Bligh and what he would have been thinking when here and how good it was that about 2600 sq. Km of land all around that area had recently been returned to their ownership..everything is so untouched up here.
Dave welcomes Bounty on arrival.
Feet finally on the ground for two nights in Restoration Island, frankly, I do not know how Bligh left, or why.... This is the closest Ive been to heaven... Once we sailed into the reef I was completely silenced by its beauty, had I lived my life and never seen this part of the world, my life would have been an utter waste.... seriously.. the views are spectacular, the people remarkably Friend, I feel completely at peace with myself here and I could happily stay on Restoration Island with several good books for weeks to come. David Glasheen's hospitality has been a welcome gift after spending the last 30 days or so on Talisker Bounty Boat and the locals have been very supportive of our expedition. Last night I enjoyed so much the company and discussions with interesting people, such a refreshing change for all of the crew having spent 24 hrs a day for the last month in each others company... no offense intended and I know we will all feel the same, I am proud to be a part of the Bounty team. But... Dear Don McBligh can we stay just a little bit longer? Alas no... We set sail again at sun rise tomorrow for the last leg, 1400 miles to Timor.
I have thought a lot why I seem to find the expedition so far harder than the rest of the crew and come to the conclusion, that as David Quilter and Don are seasoned adventurous they are simply used to discomfort, they know when it is unpleasant, this too shall pass, and the gems are around the corner, I couldn't see them, only my return flight home. Chris is at a lovely age, when life is an adventure and approaches everything by throwing himself in with that lovely playful curiosity and I admire him for that... oh to be 18.. Ive been around enough to develop an unhealthy "why am I putting up with this sh**" when the going gets tough, when its really miserable, I cheer myself up by reminding myself this trip has cost me enough for a world cruise and instead I am hungry, wet, tired and aching from head to toe... However, I will share that I am so.... so.... grateful for the experience... I suspect I will only grasp the real value once I am at home reflecting upon the whole event.. Unlike the rest of the crew, I have children who I have left at home, and I miss them terribly, not even talking with them is horrible...
We all have different ways to manage discomfort and stress, by planning my departure I gave myself a slip road, escape route and rather than counting 26 days to go I was able to count down to restoration Island (7/8 days) knowing I then had the option to depart, as crazy as it may sound this made it much more manageable for me, I really struggled, with both the diet, and surprisingly, the boredom, with no books or music to fill time, sitting for what felt like years in the crippling heat was slowly driving me insane... With so much time and nothing to fill it with I found myself worrying about matters completely unnecessarily, my home, family, business, , anything I could find to worry about I did, then all I wanted to do was leave... I am pleased I couldn't and I am learning so much about myself, though its not all pleasant, I would much rather report that I have discovered I am invincible, a strong man who can conquer the world... maybe not, but you know what I mean.. I am not going home and will be leaving with Talisker Bounty Boat tomorrow morning, when in doubt, I need to dig deep, have faith in my team and business partners at home and meditate... easy said looking across the beach from this arm chair!
Upon arrival at Restoration, I immediately went and found the material to make a small camp/bed for myself, which I must say for a Hong Kong pen-pusher this is not small achievement, I was then advised to move it further back from the beach as crocodiles are less likely to go across the grass... CROCODILES..... OMG..... I hadn't considered being eaten by crocs.. How on earth can I sleep.. But believe me, after our yummy chicken stew, the first meal since Tonga, I lay down under my make shift home and slept like a baby for 7 hours... It was wonderful, I didn't even see the stars, I passed out to quick and awoke too late, with a BIG fat smile on my face, not least because I hadn't been eaten by crocodiles..
I estimate I have lost at least 8kg and other than my pants keep falling down, I confess to being very happy about that, (the weight not the pants) the challenge will be to keep it off when I return. I know I shall take much greater care of myself and seek more balance in my life. This afternoon, someone asked if this expedition will make a real difference to my future, my reply was surprisingly prompt and I think sums up precisely how I feel. " I do not know what my future holds, I only know it will be very different from what I had previously imagined, I am looking from a different perspective and that really pleases me"
David W (not David Q)
MESSAGE TO MY DAUGHTERS - Hi Lucinda and Isabelle - You wont recognize me when I am home, much more handsome, slim, tanned with a really cool beard... I am missing you both very much... Love Dad x
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted by Patron of Sheffield Institute Foundation at 1:38 AM 19 comments
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
"REPLIES TO BLOG COMMENTS"
Hi All...been a bit of fun catching up on a few of the comments that Stu our Blog master has forwarded to Restoration Island...looks like some will have to get a copy of the book one day when it finally comes out..it will tell many things but we will try to cover everything here but as you can expect it is challenging when at sea...anyway just to cover a couple of points...
I ring Margie twice a day..once in the morning and once at night..she is our Expedition headquarters.it is all about safety and expedition logistics...not just to check up on what is going on in the world...so yes it is very appropriate to stop the rest of the crew from using the phone for anything else other than logistics..which is what I have done..what happened with Dave he twisted that to be following his business and family interests which was unfortunately for him as it stops him from enjoying the experience out here and he knew the rules...so I have no problem with that..in fact I have bent all my own standards to try to accommodate him and let him satisfy his own mind...
Margie has now gone to Europe for 6 weeks on business and pleasure so I will not be ringing her each day any longer as Marketa is our new expedition manager and she will get my check in calls..all part of our sophisticated crisis management planning and we have a large team of qualified people handling that...
Seems to be some confusion from a member of the 1983 Child of Bounty trip as to why should the Govt. pay for the helicopter to Restoration Island and that we have it easy with sat coms etc...well firstly we are the fifth expedition now..one in 1975.Child of Bounty was the second in 1983..another in 1990..another in 1995 and now us..our is different than all the others..no big deal..not better or worse..just different...Customs have been great helping with a helicopter and correct me if I am wrong but in 1983 I thought the Govt. did the same thing and paid for a customs ship to be waiting at Restoration Island to clear them??..so a helicopter today is a lot cheaper than that and isnt it good that the Aust. Govt. is so forward thinking that they support this type of endeavor for the good of all..we were impressed yesterday with how efficient and friendly Customs and AQIS really were..NO we did not use their helicopter for Arial for our Documentary!..we will charter one from Horn Island later for that at our expense..yes we have GPS for safety reasons just as in 1983 I believe the Child of Bounty used an Argo satellite tracing system and the best Charts , Sextants etc of the time for navigation..that is all that they had in those days, but I do not believe Child of Bounty went off blind into the ocean like we have in many parts...that is why we were nearly wrecked on a reef twice on the way to Fiji..and stumbled across some banks in the Pacific!
Reine seems a bit confused about our approach to a few things so let me use the torch issue as an example...we set out not to use torches as Bligh had non...we we still have torches for safety reasons..what are the rules of engagement for torches..only to avert a high risk situation or official business...so if we are writing a blog at night we have to use the head torch..if we have been struggling at night in big seas trying to control the boat and it is getting dangerous and we may capsize the boat...then we will use our head torch to look at the compass...don't worry we have had plenty of very frustrating black nights and plenty of times using torches too when it hits the fan so it is a juggling act...
With the GPS..as an example...we set off from our unexpected Fiji stop ( not scheduled!) knowing our departure point...like Bligh we have a voyage plan..he had been planning his for three months before the mutiny to get the Bounty home..all the best publications at the time and previous voyage journals of many ship before him were studded hard to make that plan..we are using our one planning chart that cover half the world...we set off and immediately get into what is called "Plain Sailing"..all the westing is simply an addition of the hourly speeds listed in the ships log...that is it...then occasionally I take a noon sight to check the Latitude..north south position..which is no big deal as there is nothing to hit for a long time..so unlike Bligh I only do that occasionally...we are just Dead Reckoning our position to the west....the current adds a new dimension...I do not calculate my Latitude and longitude each day by tables as it is Plain sailing a very simple and very basic....so when the bottom appeared last week we were surprised and I was needing to get a noon sight to work out our latitude...north south position asap..to work out which bank it was...as it turns out we quickly found the sand cay and then saw on the one chart we have we were about the latitude of Diane Bank..so that had to be it..Bingo!..we have a fixed point...the funny part about all that was that our DR positions in the next few days went way out again with currents from everywhere...so I am not navigating like Bligh but I am doing it the same way...every day noon sights..this all become irrelevant when we then have to get to Boat pass and restoration Island...I have to use the GPS just to get there as I do not have an almanac or Tables to compute longitude..neither did Bligh..but he never needed to get anywhere specific...so it is different for us...
The other way we use the GPS is for safety..when we were pressed hard on a lee shore on a very Dark windy 2am morning with surf only minutes away we struggled to get off..once that was in progress I jumped below and immediately turned the GPS on the find out where the reef was going..it showed us on the reef!! and about half a mile from the end..that info was critical to our survival....When we got to Bligh water between the Fiji islands we planned to go through in daylight but in the end we were caught in very bad weather,..far too dangerous to slow down in or we would have capsized so we were trapped heading up into a blind alley and we were going to be there at night..no option but to use the GPS or we would have been wrecked...not a good idea...
It is hard for us to truly do things exactly as Bligh..he had to..we are volunteers..it starts from there...but we are forcing deprivations and hardships on ourselves but we are no being foolhardy or reckless....we know when the boundaries have been met...we have been doing it tough often...we are having it much better off than Bligh so I will not standing up at the end and saying we did it exactly like Bligh..I will be saying we have experienced some moments very similar to Bligh in a little boat ....I will watch the sixth re-enactment of Bligh's voyage with great delight as it is truly one of the greate3st open boat journeys of all time...I am loving it and am very happy to share so much of it with so many...makes for some interesting conversations but wait till you see the Book
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