Global Search for Treasure Hunters

By Eric Shackle

From Sydney, Australia, Sunday, February 20, 2011

Bearded Australian adventurer Don McIntyre is looking for a crew of like-minded guys and gals to join his search for lost treasure.

He leads a hectic and sometimes dangerous life. Two years ago, he headed a crew of four men in an open boat who survived a perilous 3800-mile journey from Tonga to Timor.

They re-enacted Captain William Bligh's amazing journey in 1789, after Fletcher Christian and his fellow mutineers had shanghaied Bligh with a few of his men

It was a triumph in maritime navigation that has never been equaled.

Bligh later came Governor of New South Wales. His great-great-great-great grand-daughter Anna Bligh is now Premier of Queensland.

Now McIntyre is searching the globe to enlist a crew to man his ice-breaker ship ICE in a search for hidden treasure.

"If you are a pirate, deck officer, dive master, cook, engineer, comedian, or just have a real passion for life and want to do something, maybe you should think about joining the team", he says on his website, www.bluetreasure

"You are welcome for the eight months or just for a month. If you are a dreamer like me..then just have fun following the blog. I really have no idea what is going to happen, but I have to tell you, the story so far in the last eight months has blown my socks off!"

Two members of the crew have already been selected:

• Mark Street has led an adventurous life, surfing, scuba diving, sky-diving, jet skiing, fishing, motor-cycling and yachting.
• Jane Zhou, who describes herself as "coming from a very traditional Chinese family, 30 years old but still lives at home with mum!" She has worked for Seahorse Yachts (builders of ICE) for six years, and designed websites, including BlueTreasure

McIntyre sums up his latest project: "Two Aussie blokes and three girls from China, Canada and South Africa..what will we do? how will we get on? who will do the cooking? will we find anything? 50ft can become very small after nine months…..this could be very interesting…

"We set sail on April 2 from the Subic Yacht club in the Philippines bound for adventure and the unknown, sailing through some of the most spectacular places on this planet. Micronesia, and Palau, Yap, Truk, Pohnpei, Kosrae, then Kiribati, Northern Gilberts and Phoenix Islands, Wallis and Futuna."

McIntyre first looked for treasure in the Philippines eight years ago, when he on his 36-metre ship Sir Hubert Wilkins, which carried a helicopter."That ship, supported by Dick Smith Foods, was equipped with the works," he recalls, "surface breathing gear, Nitrox, 5 man, two stage recompression chamber, ROV’s etc and we had a lot of fun ( not just there but in Antarctica). We never found the gold!

"In April 2010 I was in Tonga about to set out on another little adventure www.taliskerbountyboat.com and really fell in love with everything about the 'Friendly Isles '

"Then just days before leaving that exotic place, I stumbled across something. Herein lies the intrigue…is it a treasure map? an opportunity? a roomer? Or just another Blue Dream? ..Well it could be all of these and more, or it could be nothing at all. Life is an adventure and it is now for certain, so we are off!"

"It does not stop there. Since becoming involved with this new Blue Dream, I have had people approaching me with “stories” that could see me headed to other parts of the world chasing? …well lets just say I have always wanted to own a cannon!"

"So, here we are with another web site and another adventure, eight months across the Pacific that you can be part of if you have that spark, passion, a desire to live and explore life."

"I have promised 20% of any treasure coming my way to the Sheffield Institute Foundation (SIF) to help in the fight against MND and yes that could amount to nothing or $$$. Who knows?"

"Why buy a lottery ticket when you can have more fun out there doing it? It is not the destination.. It is all about the journey and what better reason to get wet, than chase a bit of real history and the Blue Dream. Can’t say much more at this point, but watch this space!"

For his latest adventure, McIntyre has had an ice-breaker ship built in China to his specifications. He named it ICE. and says it's a 15.2m. 40 tonne steel ice strengthened motor sailor dive support vessel.

Posted by shack at 3:12 PM