Richard Fidler

Meanwhile, that part of the world, the Southern Ocean, just south of Tassie, there are all these rocky outcrops that just stick right out of the water like great big ugly jagged teeth or something.

So by Monday, the ship's absence had been noted.

There was a noticeable lack of activity, though.

Then the media got the story of the missing ship, but still no proper air and sea search for this missing vessel.

No awareness that it's even sunk.

What do you know now about what was going on there?

Why was the response so sluggish to the disappearance of the Blythe star?

It's just occurred to me that when the search began, they would have been looking for the ship, not the life raft.

Exactly right.

So they're not looking for you really at all at this point?

No.

So then night fell.

I can't imagine what it's like being in a little life raft with a canopy on it on the open southern ocean at night.

What kind of darkness descends on you in that situation?

It's hard to describe.

It is just black.

Could you see it?

If you put your hand in front of your face, could you see it?

And then the weather started to deteriorate and you write that at some point waves reached 12 metres.

Yeah.