Mike Perham signed up for the Bounty Boat Expedition

9:16 PM Fri 4 Sep 2009 GMT

'Mike Perham arrival off the Lizard in Cornwall' .

The Bounty Boat Expedition has just scored a coup as Michael Perham, the seventeen-year-old who has just become the world's youngest solo circumnavigator, has signed on as crew for the expedition.

Australian adventurer Don McIntyre has announced that Mike signed up as Second-in-command for the 4000 mile re-enactment which is to begin on April 28, 2010, the 221st anniversary of the original mutiny. Capt William
Bligh and his 18 supporting crew were forced into a 23ft open whale-boat by Fletcher Christian and his mutineering crew on HMS Bounty, and they successfully sailed from Tonga in the Pacific to Kupang in Timor.

Captain William Bligh - .. .

Bligh's voyage was one of the greatest open boat voyages in maritime history. In seven weeks, Bligh and his men sailed over 3,700 nautical miles, in an overloaded boat, with little food or water and no charts.

Don McIntyre and Chris Bray, Mike Perham and one other crew, will relive Bligh's nightmare, by attempting to sail the same voyage under similar conditions, no charts, no toilet paper, not enough food or water, in an 18th century traditional open timber whale boat. McIntyre and Bray are not new to adventuring, but this challenge is like nothing they have experienced before.

The party will will have very good safety equipment, a strong risk minimisation program, and while they will have a GPS, charts, torches and the emergency food etc. onboard, these will be sealed in a box and not used. The hardships and human dynamics of the crew is part of the experience sought, to get close to Bligh and his men.

Bounty Boat replica on a test sail - .. .

Don is making this journey to raise funds for the Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN). This landmark initiative will create the world's first, stand alone institute dedicated to bringing an end to Motor Neurone Disease.

To learn more about the expedition, or to donate, go to their website .

by Nancy Knudsen