Jack Laurence

Storms can arrive without warning and leave nothing behind but wreckage and silence.

In this series, we'll hear firsthand accounts from people who have found themselves in such situations.

Out here, there's no pause button.

The sea has always demanded respect because it punishes arrogance and inexperience without hesitation.

Moments in time where their life was literally on the line.

Navigation errors can mean days, sometimes weeks off course.

A broken mast, a failed engine or a misjudged crossing can be the difference between survival and disappearance.

Or just simply, wrong place, wrong time.

In the 1970s, there was no GPS, no satellite weather tracking, no emergency beacons, the push of a button.

Once you sailed beyond the horizon, you were pretty much on your own.

And yet for centuries, people have been drawn to it.

We'll hear the incredible survival stories, but also look at the after.

That promise of freedom, the romance of distance and the idea that if you keep moving forward long enough, the world will eventually open itself to you.

How do you pick yourself up and move on with your life?

You've got to get back on an aeroplane.

I mean, that must just be terrifying.

And for one British family, that pull was strong enough to outweigh the fear.

They had just left everything they knew behind.

My name's Jack Lawrence.

Welcome to What I Survived.