Documentary | 01 January 1983

The story of an astonishing real-life adventure, when a scientific expedition went wrong. Mountaineers, adventurers and scientists set out in Cheynes 2, a former whaling vessel, on a voyage from Hobart to Heard Island, south-west of Perth, near Antarctica. Bad weather forced them to dock at Albany and they made another stop at the French island of Kerguelen for fuel and water. By the time Captain Laurie McEwan sailed the final two days to Heard Island, a six-week voyage had taken 12 weeks. The ship was declared a wreck and the extended time at sea had left them with just two days worth of fuel.