Martin Daly, The Man Who Discovered The Ments, Solves The Amelia Earhart Mystery

It’s not hyperbolic to say that Captain Martin Daly’s discoveries stand as some of the most important in the history of surfing, the Mentawai Islands being one. It appears that as of late, Daly’s been dabbling in much bigger historical moments. 

Aiding the History Channel with a documentary about the search for iconic American aviator Amelia Earhart, who’s plane is believed to have gone down somewhere in the Pacific in 1937, Daly seems to have solved one of the 20th Century’s great mysteries.

“I found the first ever piece of her plane whilst helping out Dick Spink!” Daly posted on Facebook two days after his job announcement. “You can’t make this sort of stuff up. There’s a lot of vested interests out there that will try and pick holes in this story. I believe this to be fact, and I am quite a sceptic. One of the world’s great mysteries finally solved is my call.” 

A two-hour special that producer Shawn Henry says, “absolutely changes history,” “Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence” will premiere on the History Channel on July 9. 

And that’s not all, for those qualified pirates, Daly’s in search of someone to take the helm on one of his boats.

“Looking for a captain, experience resourceful, adventure awaits the right person,” reads a cryptic Facebook post Captain Daly made this week.  

Before you go dusting off your resume or updating your LinkedIn profile, think twice. Consider that Daly and cohorts discovered the set-ups in the Mentawais in ’83, signed a blood oath to keep the place a secret, and it wasn’t until he took Tom Carroll and Ross Clarke-Jones there in ’99 that surfing’s greatest playground became public domain. Can you handle that kind of pressure? A job opportunity driving for Daly doesn’t come around all that often, but like he points out, this kind of adventuring takes the right kind of human.

“Depending on your point of view, Martin’s either an angel or a devil. A lot of these waves people plan their year around, he found them,” noted Kelly Slater in a recent Proximity video drop.

The two have been tight since Kelly’s first boat trip back in ’94. “Thirty years on from his initial chasing around waves, he wakes up each day and he’s just as excited,” added Kelly. 

Discovering the Mentawais, taking Kelly on his first boat trip, finding Amelia Earhart’s lost plane—not too shabby for a former salvage diver.