16. A Drop in the Ocean

At thirty-one, mathematician Chris McKinlay is looking for love. But if it’s all a numbers game, his are not adding up. Could he be the problem? Or is something else getting in the way? Producer: Lauren Armstrong Carter Sound Designer: Jon Nicholls Story Editor: John Yorke 

Best-selling author Matthew Syed explores the ideas that shape our lives with stories of seeing the world differently.In this taster from the series, Matthew explores the beauty that can be found in the process of decay.Search for Sideways on BBC Sounds to hear more. 

An ambitious portfolio manager stumbles upon a perfect graph. It outlines eye watering profits. But something doesn't quite add up - could this graph be accurate? Or does it hide a far more sinister truth? Producer Lauren Armstrong Carter Sound Designer: Jon Nicholls Story Editor ... Show More

A PhD student with a passion for whales stumbles upon a strange, eerie sound deep beneath the ocean waves, something that will soon rock her world. Meanwhile, a fisherman is stranded in the ocean late at night, completely alone. With time running out, can he be rescued before it ... Show More

#110 is Duncan Hood, a long-time sailor and technically an Annapolis resident for more than two decades, but who’s traveled the world teaching instructors how to teach sailing. Duncan works as an ASA instructor and years ago got asked to travel to China to help start a sailing sc ... Show More

A merchant vessel departs Tasmania. The scheduled journey time is two days. But 18-year-old Mick Doleman and his crewmates will end up at sea for far longer than that. When their ship goes under, the seamen will find themselves stranded in a vulnerable life raft. The hellish expe ... Show More

Two men set out from Florida, ferrying a fishing boat to Cancún. It’s a routine job that should take a single day. But nearly 100 miles off the coast, the waters turn against them. Without warning, a yawning chasm opens in the middle of the ocean. Johnny Savage and his captain ar ... Show More

Rebecca Coriam, a 24-year-old from Chester, was working on a cruise ship off the Pacific coast of Mexico when she disappeared in 2011. The story of how the police and the cruise line dealt with her disappearance shines a light on the difficulties of getting a thorough investigati ... Show More

An hour after hitting the iceberg Titanic has come to a dead stop. The still-slumbering passengers are told the ship is sinking, but many of them refuse to believe it. Wireless operators Phillips and Bride continue their attempts to summon help. And as freak weather conditions wr ... Show More

Husband and father, Larry O’Brien, loved the freedom his job as a long-distance lorry driver gave him. But on March 6th 1987, that freedom was almost lost in the horror of the Zeebrugge ferry disaster, in which almost 200 people lost their lives. Larry – who could not swim – risk ... Show More

#5. Jim Carrier is a contributing editor for Cruising World magazine, and a fellow Allied Seabreeze owner! His boat, a yawl like Arcturus, is called Ranger. Jim sailed it across the Atlantic with ARC Europe several years back, and his experience with the boat on that long ocean p ... Show More

Fresh from his appearance on Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, actor Stephen Mangan finds himself in the kind of trouble where the Bible, the Complete Works of Shakespeare, and his luxury item will be no help whatsoever.From Bill Dare (Dead Ringers), Jon Holmes (The Skewer) and writ ... Show More