05 From the Dead | Back From The Dead

Piia Wirsu (VO): It just was a regular Wednesday for Rod Smith  clocking on at 6am to be in the bush by 8…

He's a logging contractor  one of those old Tasmanians  the sort who might call you cobber  they don't stand for bullshit and have a heart of gold.

He was in his late 20s.

Rod Smith: I was only a young whippersnapper, I'll put it that way

Piia Wirsu (VO): A whippersnapper.

Who at lunchtime sat in the bush and pulled out his sandwiches and Saladas with margarine and Vegemite.

Rod Smith: And I used to take those small packs of, uh, diced fruit or peaches And I would have had me thermos of coffee. And a drink of water mixed cordial every day.

Piia Wirsu (VO): He finished up the trees he had marked to fell that day, and got ready to head off.

But first, he always checked the dozer's diesel, oil and water so he was ready to crack on the next morning.

Rod Smith: There must have been something in the stars or something, because I took the cap off, and I set it on the bonnet of the radiator,

Piia Wirsu (VO): The radiator was a little low on water. Which as it turns out, was a crucial turning point in this whole ordeal.

Rod Smith: So I went and got some water out of the drum. When I went back, the lid was missing.

I thought, oh it's just drop down over the side there, I'll pick it up later. put the water in, then started to look around for the radiator cap.

Couldn't see it.

And I looked, and I looked, and I looked underneath, and then I started the dozer up and I moved the dozer back, I still couldn't find it.

I never to this day found that radiator cap, but for whatever reason I spent a half an hour looking for it.

Piia Wirsu (VO): Finally, he thought bugger it, it's gone, can't find it.

He jumped up into his red D800 Ford truck, and started the slow grinding drive back to town.

Coming over the crest of a hill, he leaned back into his seat  starting downhill

Rod Smith: Slight turn to the right there's two guys standing on the side of the road, pretty bedraggled and they had scratches and stuff on their arms and on their legs.

Pretty sure I did think, these guys have been lost in the bush.

Piia Wirsu (VO): Rod had no idea…

These blokes had been missing for nine days. Had battled the fierce southern ocean. Had lost mates. And now, here they were waving down his truck.

Piia Wirsu (VO): This is Expanse season two, the final episode … Back From The Dead

Two days earlier, Mick Doleman, Malcolm McCarroll, who loved the ponies, and the Blythe Star's cook Alf Simpson had decided they either had to get out of Deep Glen Bay and find rescue  or die trying.

Mick Doleman: So we cut that raft up, made lap laps and, shoes or coverings for our feet, then headed off.

Piia Wirsu (VO): Laplaps are basically like ponchos  and pretty essential because Mick's still in his undies and John Sloan's socks.

And this bush  is about as unforgiving as it gets.

Mick Doleman: The first day was horrendous, We'd be lucky to get 300 yards in hours.

Piia Wirsu (VO): They'd battle through scrub so thick you couldn't see a foot in front, then they'd hit a blockage and have to turn around and try to find another way.

At times the only way through was to stand on top of the dense understory  only to crash through and have to haul themselves back out.

Mick Doleman: and we didn't know where, where we were going.

We were just walking aimlessly in the bush. we just thought we were going to keep walking and walking and walking and run out of puff or fall off a cliff, uh, somewhere.

Piia Wirsu (VO): As night fell the damp creeping cold made its way into their bones again.

Mick Doleman: We slept in the hollow of a massive big tree. And we got some ferns, tree ferns, and placed them over us and we all cuddled up to each other and, uh, kept as warm as we could.

Piia Wirsu (VO): The next day they dragged themselves back up  ignoring their shredded feet. And kept walking.

Mick Doleman: And then late the afternoon, um, we stumbled on a road, a dirt road.

We didn't know which way to go, left or right. But we went with our hearts

Piia Wirsu (VO): They went right.

Mick Doleman: Alfie took off early because he was a bit slower and he wanted to get headway, and we'd catch up with him.

From behind us, I could hear, um, a noise of a truck going through its gears. I said to, uh, Malcolm, just, can you hear, did you, did you hear what I, I heard he said. Yeah. I said, I'm bloody sure it's a truck. Now listen, whatever we do, don't scare this bloke. because they'll think we're bloody prisoners or some bloody thing escaped.

 So we waited for, to see it and it was a red truck.

Piia Wirsu (VO): Rod's Red Ford D800.

Rod Smith: they sort of waved me down, Mike said. You're not going to believe me,

Mick Doleman: we're off the Blythe Star. He said, no you're not, they're dead.

Rod Smith: God, they gave up looking for you guys a fortnight ago.

They were disappointed that the authorities had given them up. There's no doubt about that. they expected people to still be looking for them. That's your hope. People are still looking for me. you keep hoping. Funny thing in life like that, you want to hang on.

Piia Wirsu (VO): Mick and Malcolm climbed into the truck's cab They pick up Alf just 'round the corner  the Three blokes — one of them pretty solid — squished into Rod's double passenger seat.

One of the men ask for a cigarette  and Rod's thinking to himself I've gotta get these poor buggers some help.

Malcolm McCarroll also had things on his mind

Rod Smith: When we got into the truck, uh, Mal said,

Mick Doleman: Who won the Caulfield Cup?

We just survived hell. And all Malcolm wanted to know is who won the Caulfield Cup.

Piia Wirsu (VO): If you're wondering, it was a horse called Swell Time – so I reckon Malcolm would've lost the tenner he had on the race.

And the time Rod spent looking for the bloody radiator cap?

Rod Smith: That half an hour is the difference, the difference between meeting them where I did, or being in front of them. And if I'd have not lost that radiator cap, I'd have been way out in front of where we met, so… ' scuse me (breaks up)

Piia Wirsu (VO): That half hour was the difference between safety and god knows what 

But there were still four men clinging on in Deep Glen Bay… too far gone to manage what Mick, Malcolm and Alf had Injured, starved, and suffering exposure.

Mick's mission to get help wasn't done yet.

Piia Wirsu (VO): On the road to civilisation three hungry shipwrecked crew in his cab… Rod was regretting his enthusiasm for his Saladas back at lunch.

Rod Smith: Any other day I would have had a sandwich left or some biscuits left or something like that. But that day I had nothing left.

And I said the only thing I've got is these anti cold.

Mick Doleman: It was a blessing, an absolute blessing. he said there's some Minties in there, you want them?

So we devoured those.

Piia Wirsu (VO): Rod pushed his truck as hard as he could as the three men shared this crazy tale.

Rod Smith: I do remember apologising that I dare not go any faster cause I'll break something on the truck and then we won't get out.

Piia Wirsu (VO): Finally they roll into the little country town Dunalley  Rod's brakes hiss as he pulls up at the police station

Rod Smith: I went, went up and, I bashed on the door. No answer. the cop wasn't there. So I thought, this is great, what do I do now?

So I drove along to the post office, went inside, and I said, look, I've got, uh, some survivors from the Blythe Star in my truck.

Piia Wirsu (VO): This is probably the biggest thing to happen in Dunalley since  well, a long time And the postmistress was all stations.

Rod Smith: She said, who do you want to call?

I said, well, first of all, I need to call the police at Sorrell.

Piia Wirsu (VO): He gets hold of the desk sergeant there  mate I've got some survivors of the Blythe Star.

Rod Smith: Who? He didn't have a bloody clue what I was talking about. And I thought, I did flash around. There's a police officer in a country town and he doesn't know what the Blythe Star is? For God's sake, where's he spent his life? Ha, ha, ha, ha,

Piia Wirsu (VO): While Rod's calling in the cavalry… the postmistress and her staff have pulled around chairs and table.

In the style of true country hospitality, it was no time until there were some freshly baked scones on the table

Rod, now leaning up against the door jamb, watched as the men wolf down the first real food in two weeks  when one of the ladies catches sight of him

Rod Smith: one of them looked over at me and said, You don't look too bad for what you'll be through. Ha ha ha ha ha ha Ah, that made me feel real good. (laughs)

Piia Wirsu (VO): The postmistress dragged out some clothes of her husband's for Mick to throw on.

Mick Doleman: Her husband was, was a fisherman. And he told me, that they offered to assist in the search for the Blythe Star. And they were told to keep out of it.

And these guys knew the territory very very well

Piia Wirsu (VO): When the crew described the landscape around the bay they'd washed in at, this old fisherman knew exactly where they were talking about. Makes you wonder what kind of difference they could have made earlier in the search.

While a helicopter was rustled up to go and collect the survivors from Deep Glen Bay, an ambulance tore down to Dunalley  making a roughly 40 minute journey in 20.

And Rod, job done and back in his truck sees the flashing lights go screaming past.

Rod Smith: Heading back up to town, I started thinking the whole thing through and I thought, well, they're tough bastards.

Piia Wirsu (VO): Earlier that day … in Crib Point, Victoria, life was going on for Robyn Simpson, cook Alfs daughter.

His memorial, was planned for the next day.

But this day? Robyn was at school. But then she just had this feeling that she had to get home

Robyn Butcher: . And I went to the headmistress, and I said, look, I, I want to go home.

And she said, what's, are you unwell?

And I said, no, I just want to go home.

Piia Wirsu (VO): Robyn walked into the family lounge room, brown flowery carpet on the floor and the cream, rectangular phone over on the wall.

Robyn Butcher: as soon as I walked in the door, the phone rang I just said hello And then I heard Denali calling I thought oh, where's that and then I heard the voice, and it was this croaky, sounded like an old person's voice.

And he said, who's that? And I said, it's Robyn. And he said, it's Dad, I'm alive.

And I said, my Dad's dead. And he said to me later on he said, that was a kick in the guts cause he said all that kept him going was thinking of me and mum.

And then he said, it is me. It's me, Pet. And he, that was his nickname for me, Pet. And he, and I, then I knew it was him.

And he said look, please tell mum I'm alive and I'm going to Hobart hospital, and I told him I loved him

I just didn't know what to do first. I rang mum at work. and she promptly fainted.

All I heard was a bang and a, oh, what's that? As she, as she hit the floor.

Piia Wirsu: How on earth were you feeling in that moment, Robyn?

Robyn Butcher: overwhelmed. I was sort of all, all about, what am I going to do?

I wanted to tell the whole world, you know, and to scream it to the stars, to the moon, that, you know. In fact, after I got off the phone to mum, I ran out in the street and yelled out, my dad's alive, my dad's alive.

Piia Wirsu (VO): In Doveton  Mick's Joanie was back at work in the chemist shop when she got a telegram

Joanie Doleman: the guy from the post office came running up and handed it to me. And he waited until I opened it up. he was anxious to find out if there was some news but I said, I think somebody's playing a horrible joke on me.

And he just looked, he didn't know what to say,

Piia Wirsu (VO): 10 minutes later Joanie's mum went tearing out of the hairdressers and up the street to the chemist.

Joanie Doleman: half her hair done, half of it wet, half in rollers, it was a sight to see.

And mum said, have you heard Joanie?

And I said, heard what? And she said that they've, they've found the survivors of the Blythe Star.

Joanie Doleman: And then Mick called.

I think I burst into tears. I couldn't believe it. He's going, it's okay, it's okay, I'm all good

I wanted to ask him a million questions. he said, Look, I'll tell you all about it when I see ya.

Piia Wirsu (VO): Everyone was running into the chemist to tell Joanie — Mick's okay!

Her boss Basil wasn't stopping her this time, she ran back down to Mick's place.

Joanie Doleman: I would say close to a couple of hundred people was at Mick's place that day. The feeling was just amazing. I was so excited you couldn't take the smile off my face I was just so happy I couldn't stop giggling I couldn't stop laughing.

I don't think I've ever been that excited again.

Piia Wirsu (VO): The phones were also starting to ring back in Tassie at the TVT6 newsroom,

Trevor Sutton: we got a phone from someone call to say that, uh, Blightstar survivors had walked out of, Out of the forest or something

Piia Wirsu (VO): Journalist Trevor Sutton got straight on the phone to try and confirm this unbelievable news

Piia Wirsu: What was the feeling in the newsroom

Trevor Sutton: Absolutely euphoric. Absolutely. Everybody wanted to know what had happened.

Piia Wirsu (VO): Trevor wasn't the only journalist trying to work out what was going on  and where these survivors from Deep Glen Bay were

ARCHIVE — Reporter: The last couple of hours have been very hectic, as you can imagine most of the pressmen went out to the airport. They'd been given, um, what we call a bum steer that they would be going to the airport. This was to try and scare, uh, most of the pressmen off. Then we heard that they were flying into the domain right in the center of the city. Uh, close to the Royal Hospital.

Trevor Sutton: We were waiting alongside the ABC, the Mercury and the Examiner.

Piia Wirsu (VO): This white dot appears over the trees, which start to whip in the updraft of the approaching helicopter. It touched the ground and the waiting crowd surged forward.

As they opened the door of the helicopter. we just moved in with our microphones and cameras.

ARCHIVE — Reporter: What is your name, sir? Crookshank. You're the captain.

It's good to see you back, Captain.

Can you tell us what happened, Captain?

Captain Cruickshank — She capsized.

What's today? Was it Saturday the 12th or 13th? I've just forgotten time.

Piia Wirsu: What did you see as they opened the helicopter door?

Trevor Sutton: Oh, terrible sight really, the man that was sitting on my side, he had something wrong with his feet, his skin was funny, it was blotchy and things, they didn't look well, certainly didn't look well.

ARCHIVE — Reporter: They were… Very startled, they looked extremely surprised and rather bewildered. terribly sunburnt. None of them had shoes on. The captain had his feet bandaged. Their legs were badly cut and scratched and they were bleeding.

Trevor Sutton: I did an interview with one of the crew, as he was being lifted from the helicopter, I asked the most terrible question, the worst question I've ever asked in my life of anyone.

I just said to him, how do you feel?

He went, Oh! And the problem was, he was being lifted at the time to be put into the ambulance onto a stretcher out of the helicopter. And he was in agony. And I wasn't aware.

I copped flack for weeks and weeks afterwards, what right did I have to interview a person like that?

I've got to live with that too. So you might say I've got a few guilts.

Piia Wirsu (VO): It was late by the time Trevor got back to the studio  so late? They didn't even have time to really review what they had.

Trevor Sutton: It was all film. So when we got back to the station, we could only get part of the interview processed and it had to be pulled out of the tank, wasn't edited, put on a telecine chain and thrown to air. At the same time the Melbourne and Sydney stations, seven, 10 and nine, they took our live coverage.

So it all went away live, unedited.

Piia Wirsu (VO): The coverage of this moment is pretty full on.

Mick Power, nursing his suspected punctured lungs, looks gaunt and haggard  honestly like he's barely still with us.

53-year-old Cliff Langford's not a great deal better — news is that he wouldn't have survived another night out there.

Paramedics are pushing reporters aside trying to get these men on stretchers and into ambulances …

ARCHIVE — Police: Stand back, please. Stand back!

ARCHIVE — Reporter: Excuse me, sir, can you tell us, uh, the names of the people surviving?

Piia Wirsu (VO): Reporters thrust microphones into the survivor's faces, trying to glean any of the details they've been starved of for weeks, right up until the ambulance doors are slammed in their faces.

And this? Is how 10 year old Mark Eagles found out his dad  who loved Opera and Tinkering with land rovers  who would take him fishing and played cards  hadn't made it. On the 6pm news.

Mark Eagles: The footage of the helicopters coming in and the ambulances, paying particular attention to see if we could see dad, which we did not. And. Uh, it just, it was quite, uh, evident then that there was something going on.

We were just waiting, waiting for someone to tell us what was going on, and I think that it was that night, we heard a knock on the door and, uh, we all just jumped up, I guess. Yeah. Expecting.

Piia: What were you expecting?

Mark Eagles: Well, the bad news, I guess.

Piia: And what did you see when the door opened?

Mark Eagles: one constable, me being a small, young tacker, uh, I'm just off to the, the side just, uh, observing.

Dad wasn't one of the survivors.

I was just numb. What could I do?

Piia Wirsu (VO): John Sloan's wife Joan was also digesting this news her husband wasn't coming home.

And I've gotta say as a journalist in 2023, some of the media reporting back then was pretty gross, that moment with the helicopter, and headlines plastered around about Joan's husband like 'Sharks Ate Dead'.

Some of the media – even the ABC — were going to get every pound of flesh out of this story they could – regardless of the cost.

Piia Wirsu (VO): As the surviving men were taken care of in hospital  some being fed by hand because they were too weak to hold a spoon themselves  their families become the centre of the media fray.

ARCHIVE — Wife: I'm just dying to get down there, you know, to see how he is and everything.

ARCHIVE — Wife: a neighbour of mine come rushing in and said that there had been people found on the rocks. I thought she meant dead bodies.

ARCHIVE — Wife: I jumped in the air, I cried. Oh, you know, I got terribly excited.

ARCHIVE — Reporter: What are the first things you're going to say to him when you see him?

ARCHIVE — Wife: It's funny you should ask me that, because one night I thought to myself, when he comes back, I'm going to tell him off for all the trouble that he's caused.

Piia Wirsu (VO): And there's this one interview I found that really intrigues me with Captain Cruikshank's wife.

It makes me think again about his complete breakdown when the ship sank.

ARCHIVE — Reporter: Now you've seen your husband, uh, how do you think he looks?

ARCHIVE — Cruikshank's wife: Terrible. I mean, I've never seen him with a beard before.

ARCHIVE — Reporter: How does he feel? Has he told you that he's,

ARCHIVE — Cruikshank's wife: uh… Well, uh, he seems shocked, you know what I mean? He doesn't seem to know what he's doing, When I'm talking about the other sailors, He said, um… Oh, uh… Who do you mean? You know and I'm trying to tell him all this but it doesn't seem as if it's sinking in.

Piia Wirsu (VO): Maybe he was thinking ahead again to the inquiry  maybe he was just a bit broken 

But already the questions were piling up.

ARCHIVE — News VO: Survivors of the sunken freighter Blythe Star revealed today that a fleet of Japanese trawlers, ignored distress signals The Federal Government plans to take up the incident with the Japanese Government.

ARCHIVE — Reporter: Well, some of the Blythe star's crew have been rescued, thank God. But what did happen aboard her?

Piia Wirsu (VO): After a few days, some of the men were allowed out of hospital  and the Transport Commission stumped up for some clothes to get them by.

Mick Doleman: being a brash young bloke, I never owned a suit in my life, so I bought a suit

Piia Wirsu (VO): Dressed for success  Mick was ready to see young Joanie again.

Joanie Doleman: all we knew is that the plane was getting in at a certain time.

We're an hour and a half or whatever from the airport. They should be pulling in any minute now.

There was reporters there from TV and everything there we stood there forever waiting. Well, it felt forever waiting for the, for him to come to drive into the driveway.

And of course, when he did, everybody just cheered and jumping up and down.

And of course, everybody let me go straight to the taxi, nobody got in my way. And I opened the door and I was shocked because he was so, so skinny, like really skinny. and he needed help to get out of the taxi because his feet was so swollen they were cut to pieces.

Besides that, he looked fantastic. Gave him the biggest cuddle, and then I had to share him with everybody else

Mick Doleman: I remember I could barely, barely walk. And, I, um, grab Joanie and give her a big kiss.

Piia Wirsu: And was there sort of a bit of a street party that night?

Joanie Doleman: Oh, absolutely. I think, I think it went on for days. To the point where Mick's mum just said, in the end, we need to give this boy some rest.

Mick Doleman: the next day, Joanie and I went, get away from everybody just for, a couple of hours, and I went to a Chinese restaurant in Dandenong and I ordered this meal, and honestly ten men wouldn't have been able to eat it. I I had about two or three mouthfuls and then couldn't eat it anymore and, uh, I said, no, you can take it back, mate.

I'm sorry. I'll pay for it, but I'm, um, I can't eat it. My stomach just won't absorb it.

Piia Wirsu (VO): Alf was getting a similar welcome at home

Robyn Butcher: I can remember my heart was racing and I ran out and I just gave him a hug

 It was unbelievable. it was like a movie.

Piia Wirsu (VO): The street put on a party, dragging an armchair out the front for Alf to sit in because he still wasn't all that much chop walking.

Robyn Butcher: the whole town came round and welcomed him home,

He'd lost a lot of weight. he was, you know, real skin and bones and, you could see in his face that he'd been through a lot.

He had this, like, yeah, tired and, yeah, haunted look

Piia Wirsu (VO): Sitting there in his armchair, with slippers on his swollen and battered feet, Alf's mates turned up with a bunch of dry cleaning receipts.

Robyn Butcher: they all came up and gave him the receipts for their suits because they'd all had them dry cleaned for his, um, memorial service.

Piia Wirsu (VO): Alf was a good sport, and took all the receipts to pay.

Robyn Butcher: he had a wicked sense of humor. He went into the Herald Sun after he recovered which took months and months. and paid his own death notice and he got really chuffed about that.

There's not many people can do that.

Piia: Yeah not many at all

Piia Wirsu (VO): While there was this jubilation and celebration  media interviews about this amazing survival story 

It wasn't a survival story for everyone.

Mark Eagles: When someone dies, that's a completely different scenario.

We're in our state and someone else is in a different state, ecstatic that they've survived and, and on our side, we've got a death and, mum and us are left to fend for ourselves.

Piia Wirsu (VO): When Chief engineer John Eagles' body was released the family organised a funeral  and Mark said goodbye to his dad.

Piia Wirsu: How do you think, Mark, everything that happened and the loss of your dad has shaped who you've become?

Mark Eagles: Uh, definitely made me resilient. definitely, uh, toughened us up, I'd say. You could say. Um, but maybe in a good way.

Piia Wirsu: Did you notice how everything that happened changed your Mum?

Mark Eagles: Uh, well it was very hard for her. she would have been 45 when all this happened. She had her first stroke in when she was 50.

It wouldn't have helped, the stress of that at the time. trying to look after three kids. no money.

Piia Wirsu (VO): For the families of the three men who died  a long battle for compensation kicked off  They spent years fighting for a fair sum  for what their men's lives were worth.

Ken's Australian family, including his 4-year-old Daughter Susan, were told up front they wouldn't be getting the seventeen thousand dollars they were asking for  because Ken had another family in New Zealand.

Mark's family lost the banana plantation  and that land rover Mark and his brothers had helped his dad strip back before finally years later some compensation money flowed through

Piia Wirsu: For people who listen to this story what impression would you like them to take away of your dad?

Mark Eagles: Uh, that he did not have a, a voice. He did not have a say, a voice, um, in any part of the inquiry. Uh, there was no one there to defend him.

Piia Wirsu (VO): The Inquiry.

Two months after the men were found, they all fronted up at an inquiry to get to the bottom of what happened.

Mark Eagles: It all comes down that the ship was, uh, Overloaded with deck cargo. And as a consequence of that, Dad lost his life.

Piia Wirsu (VO): Journalist Trevor Sutton covered all this. And he thinks the crew were kinda thrown under the bus

Trevor Sutton: Yes, I do believe that. There's certainly no blame attached, I don't think, to the Chief Engineer John Eagles. But, you know, he's been blamed by the Court of Marine Inquiry. by saying that he's, or could be, responsible for the ship's sinking.

You know, that's the guy. When the ship is sinking, He goes back into the engine, down inside the engine room, to switch off the engine to prevent anybody from being killed by the propeller.

And the poor… Buggers not alive to, you know, to answer any of those questions. I just feel, you know, lost for words, really.

Piia Wirsu (VO): It gets a bit technical, but they basically thought maybe John Eagles had pumped water out of a tank in the ship — called the ballast — that helps stabilise it.

And that might have been part of what sent her down.

There were questions asked during sittings about why Ken Jones, as the first mate who had sailed on the Blythe Star before, hadn't done more to protest the ship's overloading 

Even though it seems pretty clear that there was a lot of pressure from the big wigs to get the cargo moving  the final report acknowledged that, even as it levelled blame at Ken for the overloading

Trevor Sutton: I find that amazing. I reckon that's not justice.

Piia Wirsu (VO): Now I obviously wasn't there at this inquiry  I didn't hear the testimony — although I've read a lot of it … but it kinda feels to me like the Tasmanian Transport Commission, overseen by the Tasmanian Government, who ran the whole operation kinda got off lightly

The inquiry did criticise the stuff ups in the search how key information was ignored.

But while it outlined how the Transport Commission could have done things better  the recommendations… seem like a light touch  they suggest the commission review training methods  and that the department give consideration to changing procedures

Procedures that allowed the appointment of a captain who didn't have the certificate to operate the mayday equipment. That allowed the locking bar to be packed in storage – essentially making the ship unseaworthy – and the overloading of a ship despite a near accident just months earlier.

Meanwhile, the report slams Captain Cruikshank 'satisfied beyond all reasonable doubt he failed in his duty'.

And sure. But also, What about the transport commission's duty to those men? What about their duty to create a culture that was safe, that prioritsied human life over profits?

What about the fact they refused to take on the Blythe Star's existing crew when they chartered her because they thought they could get it done cheaper?

There's also the fact that the commission gave the wrong information to a naval architect who approved the Blythe Star for sea  after he found out the correct info, he said? It was a capsize waiting to happen.

It also came out in the inquiry that the Transport Commission were, let's say, cagey about the info they handed over to marine operations who were coordinating the search1 – which was all about avoiding embarrasment2 

Several of the flares in the life raft  didn't work. And the commission knew that, they'd been marked unservicable.

The bosun, Tas Leary, had raised concerns with office staff about the amount of deck cargo…

But in the inquiry the transport commission big wigs absolutely refused to acknowledge that those on shore in the commission had any responsibility for the ship's stability.3 None.

After all this came to light  the inquiry determined that it was most likely the sinking was down to the deck cargo or the ballast Two things that were laid at the feet of two dead men who couldn't defend themselves. Ken Jones. And John Eagles.

How can an organisation walk away so lightly when three lives have been lost?

I've tried to speak to the Transport Commission big hitters, men like Captain Alastair Maddock, and they've either died or are untraceable. So it kinda feels like even now the transport commission is made up of these unaccountable, faceless men.

But they weren't faceless, they were powerful men who made decisions that affected lives.

I did speak to Neil Batt, who was minister for transport at the time, he's in his 80s now and long retired …

He said that as minister he was ultimately responsible for the ships sinking  but then later he also said, he wouldn't have done anything differently.

Neil Batt: As a minister you don't get down and look at the boat before it sails to make sure it's properly loaded. Um, so I don't know what else I could have done.

Piia Wirsu (VO): I can't help but think  what if everyone thought it was someone elses job to fix all these little things?  Maybe that's how it all went so horribly wrong.

Trevor Sutton: The government didn't do what it should have done. The Transport Commission didn't do what it should have done. The Marine Operations Center in Canberra didn't get it right.

No one got anything right with the Blythe Star. It's been a, you know, a terrible exercise and a terrible blight on Tasmania. I think there is a chance, you know, the state government, offer an apology. To Mick Dolan, you know, his, all his deceased crewmates, he's the only one left now, and the families of the deceased, I reckon, you know, the apology is due to them, certainly due.

Piia Wirsu (VO): After the inquiry apportioned blame, or not  at the end of the day there were still the 7 surviving crew  and they all had lives to get on with.

Mick Doleman: when I got permission to go back to sea, It was a small ship. It was almost a mirror copy of the Bystar. It was tiny, it would roll on grass,

I thought I was suitably tuned, tuned up to go back to sea and I was so wrong.

Every night when the ship was at sea and it was rolling port, rolling starboard, I'd keep thinking, come back, come back, uh, straighten back up.

So I only done three weeks and I paid off, and I, I, I couldn't go, couldn't go back to that type of ship.

From that point on, I was very selective when, when I could to get, uh, bigger ships that, um, didn't perform so badly, in, uh, weather.

Piia Wirsu (VO): I've seen this letter from 'Tas' Leary  remember? the one who got the life raft free  and it's pretty heart breaking.

'Tas' Leary (Re-enactment): Dear Professor Henderson,

Thank you for your letter received a few days ago.

I feel it important, from my own point of view, that I do see you. I may need your advice.

Following the Inquiry I returned to sea. In general terms I was not greatly disturbed except when the ship's engines were stopped at sea (which did happen) or when the ship rolled heavily. My feeling then was one of anxiety bordering on panic. I then decided it might be best if I gave up the sea to work ashore.

During recent weeks I have had considerable trouble with nightmares. My wife tells me that I have often cried out in my sleep. Although she has been unable to understand much of what I have been saying, she says I have frequently spoken of not being able to let go the paddle, being wet and cold and of having no room to move. Once recently she said I cried out for water.

From my own point of view, and from my own recollection, know that the hours when I have had the greatest difficulty in sleeping and the greatest sense of worry have been just before sunrise.

Piia Wirsu (VO): Robyn Simpson also noticed her dad  Blythe Star cook Alf… was different 

Piia Wirsu: In this day and age, Robyn, if something like this happened, um, the men would be offered, you know, extensive counselling, there would be discussions about post traumatic stress disorder. Do you think your dad struggled with something like post traumatic stress disorder?

Robyn Butcher: Definitely, definitely had post traumatic stress. I didn't know what it was then, I know what it is now, and dad definitely had it.

Little things used to annoy him. Um, started drinking more and I didn't really notice it then, but I know, I notice it now I don't think anyone can go through what they all went through and not, not come out with some sort of scars

Piia Wirsu (VO): Alf would wake in the middle of the night with flashbacks of the Blythe Star sinking And when on back on board a ship he'd have an instant panic if the engine noise dropped.

He threw himself into his family and his garden  he actually won awards for his flowers.

Robyn Butcher: He was a very affectionate, always gave you a hug. And I don't know whether that's because of what he went through. I don't know. He always He'd give you a bear hug and just about suck the oxygen out of you, so yeah, he was a really great dad.

Piia Wirsu: What do you think it was in him that gave him such a strong drive to survive when it must have seemed like everything was lost?

Robyn Butcher: He said it was thinking about us, his family, us kids and mum.

He was determined not to give up, and we were his will to survive.

Piia Wirsu (VO): A reporter actually asked 'Tas' Leary this very thing as he was on a stretcher being wheeled to an ambulance  what kept you going? and he said?

Willpower.

Mick Doleman: I could say I wish it hadn't of happened. But what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. And that was a good lesson in strength. and building capacity to do things and to better yourself. your surrounds or whatever the case may be

Piia Wirsu (VO): I've spent this whole time trying to work out how seven of these men made it through – How, against all odds and what was reasonably possible, they survived the unsurvivable.

Piia Wirsu: What do you hope people take away from this story?

Mick Doleman I'd like them to think that I'm a man of endurance Um, who had to do what happened, uh, to save his life and his fellow shipmates life. and not, um, try to make a profit out of it or benefit from it, but to be genuine about the event, and respectfully acknowledging, uh, that people, uh, died well before their time.

I think about the moments each of these men displayed the most incredible presence of mind  bravery  and sheer doggedness to stay hanging in there.

Whether it be Tas Leary wrestling the life raft free from the sinking ship…

Or John Eagles shutting off her engines …

Alf making the most of the poor rations they had.

John Sloan, without medication and dying, still picking up that paddle

Or Ken Jones, Giving everything he had to keep his crew going 

And Mick, just 18 deciding he'd get help or die trying, if that's what it took.

This is what I think it took to survive so many small moments where someone stepped up, took the lead, did what had to be done, made the hard choice and collectively? those little moments  were the difference.

That was the willpower these men showed – whether they lived to tell the tale or not.

Piia Wirsu: why is now the time to tell this story

Mick Doleman: Um, I suppose the sum total of it is that I didn't talk about it earlier for years and years because, um, it was such a difficult period and, um, I didn't wanna be seen to be a storyteller. Um, that would, seem to me to be disrespectful

 I was sort of, um, convinced by my daughter that I should, uh, talk about it and leave a record of the events and that if you don't do it, and you're the last survivor, um, Somebody else will do it and it'll be in their image. So that's why I've done it.

Piia Wirsu (VO): Mick dedicated the next 50 years of his life securing better rights and safety for seafarers to make sure what happened with the Blythe Star never happened again.

Because of that work… life on the sea is safer than when he joined a pitch dark boat on Prince of Wales Bay one evening back in '73.

And that blossoming romance  born at a Pizza Hut in Springvale? 

Mick Doleman: When I came home, we had some serious discussions and uh, demonstrated how much we were in love with each other and the whole dynamic of our relationship changed to something, uh, of a long term nature.

Piia Wirsu (VO): It must have been quite the pizza, because Mick and Joanie are still together 50 years on …

Joanie Doleman: he's my best friend, I still love hanging out with Mick, you know, like, plenty of nights we'll just sit home and have a drink and have a chat, turn the music on and he's, I just love his company, I love being around him,

Mick Doleman: I'm a reasonably modest man. I, I don't, um, I don't look for fame or any of that caper. I just wanna do the right thing. And, um, I think I have up to this point.

Piia Wirsu: Mick, thank you so much for talking to us. it's been a real pleasure. We'll let you go so that you can catch your plane, um, but really appreciate it. And please thank Joanie as well.

Mick Doleman: I will. She's sitting opposite me, making sure I don't stuff up. And one day we'll catch up for a cold beer. How's that?

Piia Wirsu (VO): You know what? That sounds perfect

This has been From the Dead, Season Two of ABC's Expanse podcast.

It was made on the lands of the Stoney Creek Nation, and Awabakal country.

It was hosted by me, Piia Wirsu, I was also the senior producer. Sound Engineer and producer is the unsurpassed Grant Wolter. Executive Producer is Blythe Moore.

Additional Production and research by Liz Gwynn and Helen Shield.

Special thanks to Ed Farley, Eric George, Robert Mailer, Tim Roxborough, Jane Connors and everyone who provided feedback along the way.

And the biggest heartfelt thanks to Mick Doleman for sharing his story, and to all the family of the crew and others who spoke to us, who were so generous with their time – we couldn't have done it without you.