A ship that disappeared near Tasmania nearly 50 years ago sparking the most important Australian maritime search ever on the time has finally been found.
The 144 foot MV Blythe Star was on its way from Hobart to King Island with 10 crew and a cargo of beer and fertilizer when it suddenly capsized on October 13, 1973.
An enormous seven day search found no trace of the ship or the crew, who were presumed dead.
It might later be revealed the crew members had actually escaped into an inflatable life raft.
Three of them died before the group made it ashore a small beach on Tasmania and located help 12 days later.
It is claimed the primary words from the primary person they met were: “Nah, you’re all dead.”
While the community and country got answers about what happened to the crew, the ship was never found – until April 12 this 12 months.
Researchers from the CSIRO and the University of Tasmania were on a 38-day voyage on-board RV Investigator to check an underwater landslide.
In the course of the voyage they went to research an unidentified shipwreck which had previously been pinpointed by fishing vessels.
The shipwreck turned out to be the missing MV Blythe Star, solving a 50-year-old mystery.
It was found about seven miles west of South West Cape, Tasmania and lies in 492 feet of water.
The ship is unbroken and sitting upright on the ocean floor.
In a press release on Monday, CSIRO said some parts just like the stern were damaged and “most notably” the wheelhouse was now not present.
The federal government science agency said it hoped that the mapping and video footage researchers got off the shipwreck may help answer questions on what caused it to sink all those years ago.
The mapping was done using multi-beam echo-sounders and two underwater camera systems got video.
The cameras identified a part of the vessel’s name (“STAR”) on the ship’s bow.
Crayfish, schools of fish and fur seals were also filmed swimming across the wreck.
