Dead In The Water

The Life and Death of the Sospan Fach

On April 7, 1974, four people left Auckland, New Zealand on a thirty-eight-foot ferro-cement yacht, the Sospan Fach, headed for Sydney, Australia. The equipment on board included a nine-dollar compass, an inexpensive toy sextant, one set of sails, one doughnut-shaped life preserver and a lifeboat designed to carry one person. The usual books of tables and logarithmic calculation devices required were absent. There was no auxiliary motor, no radio, and no pair of binoculars, nothing in the way of instrumentation: no wind speed or direction indicator, no thermometer, or barometer. The builder/owner/skipper of the yacht received one sailing lesson of two hours around Auckland's Waitemata Harbor, during which he three times ran aground. The vessel was not certified for deep-sea travel because it could not meet New Zealand Category One seaworthy requirements. It was not registered, and no official notification was given to maritime authorities about the planned sea voyage. None of the crew had any deep-water sailing experience. The skipper's navigational plan was to sail north for three days and then turn left towards Australia, the rationale being that Australia was so large, nobody could miss it. The Sospan Fach (Little Saucepan in Welsh), ended up marooned on Middleton Reef, in Australian national waters, where the four survived on meager provisions and their wits for six weeks, amidst ever impending mutiny. This is a faction—an historical documentary with just enough fiction to cause you to wonder. It's rooted in the truth and is a story of incredible stupidity and blind, dumb luck.