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SABC discovers permit that gave Dave Allan permission to dive on 18th century wreck of Doddington

Mark Minnie wearing a red jacket
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The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has discovered a permit issued by the Monuments Council in the 1980s that gave permission to Port Elizabeth businessman Dave Allan to dive on the 18th century wreck of the Doddington near Bird Island, in Algoa Bay.

Allen is one of the men identified in the controversial book “The Lost Boys of Bird Island” which was co-written by journalist Chris Steyn and former policeman, Mark Minnie.

Minnie was found dead on a smallholding outside Port Elizabeth earlier this month. Although it is alleged he committed suicide, his family is not convinced of this.

The book implicates three former National Party Ministers and Allen in an alleged government paedophile ring from the 1980s.

The remote island off the coast of the friendly city known as “Bird Island” is home to the largest population of Cape gannets in the world. On the island is a lighthouse with two cottages connected on either side of it.

The tall structure allegedly holds many dark secrets. The controversial book “The Lost Boys of Bird Island” claims one of the houses was where the ministers would molest and rape minors.

The houses are now abandoned and derelict.

In the book, co-author Minnie gave details of the alleged molestation and rape of the young boys on the island. He spoke to the alleged victims while he was a police officer trying to uncover the truth. In the book, he says that the ministers would allegedly ferry boys, mostly of mixed race, to the island, under the pretext of “fishing excursions”.

These boys were often taken from the Northern Areas and townships in Port Elizabeth. It is alleged the boys were flown to the island in military helicopters and made drunk.

“The place where the atrocities occurred was the lighthouse keepers house just of the right of the lighthouse and it’s something quite funny because the house has a garage and there has never been a vehicle on Bird Island. Because light house keepers were allowed to have a house with a garage and there is a landing strip for helicopters which was also used to ferry the personnel to and from the island,” says Nelson Mandela Bay Tour Operator Lloyd Edwards.

On the island, a stone plaque was also discovered.  It was issued by then Environmental Affairs Minister John Wiley to Dave Allen in 1985. SABC News has also secured the original permit, giving Allen permission to dive near a vessel that ran aground on Bird Island in 1755.

The vessel, the Doddington, was carrying a consignment of gold and silver on its way to India when it was wrecked. In 1978, Allan documented that he found the wreck and was then a frequent visitor to the island. Edwards says the island is home to many dark secrets.

“The alleged perpetrators of what was going on there actually got the permit to salvage the Dodington and he claimed not to have found any gold there but this gold later surfaced at Southebys in London claiming to be from the Dodington and the South African government took their half of it. So after that stage a lighthouse was built in 1854, it was the fourth lighthouse ever built in South Africa and since then there has been 21. There is always something happening there one of the lighthouse keepers’ wives mysteriously drowned in the well on the island.”

Edwards says Bird Island which is also home to Cape Fur Seals and African penguins is now a nature reserve and protected by SANPARKS. “It’s amazing on the one hand you have all this beauty and the anomaly of this is that now you have had this alleged paedophile ring that was operating in such a beautiful place it’s a crisis.”

Bird Island was not the only location where the alleged incidents took place. Other locations are said to include Allen’s house in Schoenmakerskop near Port Elizabeth and a beach house in Witelsbos in the Tsitsikamma Forest.

Mark Minnie’s funeral will be held in Port Elizabeth on Friday.

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