A team from Australia’s national science agency has found the wreckage of the sinking freighter Blythe Star 50 years later, solving one of the country’s biggest maritime mysteries.
The 44-metre long motor coastal cargo ship Blythe Star unexpectedly capsized off Tasmania on 13 October 1973. Three of the crew lost their lives, while the 10 surviving personnel were rescued 12 days after the accident.
After the accident, the largest maritime search operation in Australian history was launched, but no trace of the ship was found. The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) announced on Monday that it had located the site where the Blythe Star sank.
The CSIRO team, which has been at sea for 38 days with a research vessel called Investigator, to study a submarine landslide off Tasmania, made the discovery.
The team, which started a side project to examine an unidentified shipwreck, determined that the ship was at a depth of about 150 meters, undamaged and sitting upright on the seabed.
The team used multi-beam sonar to map the shipwreck before sending underwater camera systems to the wreck site.
Researchers found the debris matched the size and profile of Blythe Star.
Images from the cameras were compared with historical photographs of the ship to identify distinctive features, including the word “star” in the bow, confirming that the wreck was a Blythe Star.
The team hopes the video footage can provide clues as to why the ship sank.
The findings were shared with the Blythe Star Memorial Group, as well as families and the only crew member still alive. The Remembrance Group plans to hold an event in October to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the ship’s sinking.
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