Today, a popular theory suggests that the vessel is a missing ship of voyage of Portuguese exploration, wrecked in 1522. Kenneth McIntyre advanced this theory in 1977, as part of his theory of Portuguese discovery of Australia. According to McIntyre the Mahogany Ship was part of a secret expedition, under Cristóvão de Mendonça, that set out from the Spice Islands in 1522 to look for the Isles of Gold. McIntyre argued secrecy would have been essential because the mariners were entering waters deemed Spanish under the Treaty of Tordesillas. He suggested that, after discovering the north coast of Australia, they followed and chartered it and continued down the east coast and around Cape Howe, before one of the caravels was wrecked at Warrnambool. The other ships turned back and returned to the Spice Islands and then Portugal. Maps and documents of such a voyage were kept locked away in Portugal so as to avoid antagonising Spain and to keep the discoveries from her or other nations. McIntyre suggested that all of the original documents have since been lost or destroyed, except for references to Jave la Grande, which appear on the French Dieppe school of maps. Lawrence Fitzgerald also supported McIntyre's theory connecting the Mahogany ship to a Portuguese voyage in his 1984 book, "Java La Grande". However, Peter Trickett's 2007 book on the theory of Portuguese discovery of Australia, "Beyond Capricorn", found fault with McIntyre's interpretation of the Mahogany ship as a caravel, and noted that until the wreck is found, "all theories must remain to some degree speculative." Bob Nixon (2001) and Murray Johns (2005) have both criticised McIntyre's account for adding confusion to the story of the Mahogany ship through his identification of the wreck as a caravel and his selection and transcription of evidence.