Finding new depth whilst bringing a 50-year-old shipwreck survival story back from the dead

What is it about survival stories that so capture our imagination?

Whether it's the hit TV show Alone, or our fascination with decades-old stories like the Titanic, there is a seemingly endless appetite for stories where people are up against the odds.

But why are we so drawn to these kinds of tales? I have been thinking a lot about why and how we tell these kinds of stories. 

True Crime is one of the most popular podcast genres, and you only need to look at the intense interest around the missing Titan submersible earlier this year to know, in mercenary terms, these stories sell.

But as a journalist, I grapple regularly with society's appetite for trauma. What is the benefit to re-telling these stories?

Deciding if a story should be told

Six months ago, I found myself drawn into a story that has come to occupy a large slice of real estate in my brain.

It's one of these survival stories and, although I had never heard of it before, it happened right in my Tasmanian backyard.

In October 1973, ten men were cast adrift in a life raft with nothing but the clothes they were in, after the freighter the Blythe Star sank without a trace —  and seemingly without cause — off Tasmania's southwest coastline.

I have spent months researching what happened, speaking to family of the crew, journalists, bystanders, and the sole remaining survivor.

I can tell you this story has haunted people for 50 years. That people lost loved ones, young men were catapulted into adulthood, and that I can barely comprehend the willpower shown by the crew to keep themselves and their shipmates going in the face of formidable odds.

I have brought all these recollections together in a new podcast, Expanse: From the Dead. But I thought long and hard about doing so, because I was asking myself that question; what is the benefit to re-telling this tale?

I often wonder if our appetite for trauma and stories that are so raw satisfies that same urge to slow down and rubber neck when passing a car accident.

But as I sat and listened to people share what their experiences were of the Blythe Star shipwrecking, I realised that it was actually really important that this story was on the record.

People wanted to talk, in part because of the way the media covered the story at the time.

Relentless media left its mark

By all accounts, 1973 was a wildly different time. More than one person has described shipping back then as 'the Wild West'. And the media too was pretty fast and loose.

As this very personal tragedy of the missing Blythe Star unfolded, the media was relentless. The coverage in 1973 left lasting scars for many people.

Children found out their dad had died on the news, widows read headlines about their husbands that read 'Sharks Ate Dead!', there was a literal scrum around the survivors when they arrived at hospital.

Current-day media are by no means perfect, but as a journalist in 2023 I was shocked to watch the coverage from this event, and find it hard to imagine the same would happen today.

I hope the media has evolved, to create a space to tell these stories in more than sound bites — and importantly with compassion. 

I feel the responsibility, as cliched as it may sound, of the memories that have been shared with me. This is an opportunity to put the story of the Blythe Star on the record, as those involved remember it. In their words. With compassion.

Could you survive the un-survivable?

I have also come to realise that part of why so many are drawn to a story like this, is because through it we are able to learn something about what it means to human – with all the frailty and contradictions that involves.

These stories speak to something deep within us. What would I do in that situation? What happens to people — to us — when everything else is stripped away?

You might have heard it said that people are all storytellers — from day dot it's how we shared information and made sense of the world.

And still today, telling this story, we are connecting, learning and making sense of the world through the shared experience of those who have told this story.

Follow Expanse: From the Dead on the ABC listen app to hear every episode of season two.