Castaway

The theme of the ABC's new prime-time drama serial, "Castaway," revolves around man's will to survive. This series, which tells the story of shipwreck survivors and their life on a Pacific island, premiered on February 17, 1974, and aired each Sunday at 7:30 PM. The sailing ship Mary Jane is en route to Australia, carrying a diverse group of passengers, including free settlers, militia members, convicts, and crew. However, the ship goes down in a cyclone. During the storm, a convict named Billy Rose helps a boy named David reach a nearby island. There, they encounter a small group of fellow survivors: Jan Lindburg, his wife Eve, their daughter Angie, a German family, an Englishwoman named Cathy Dunbar, and Sergeant Holt. As months pass, the survivors become accustomed to their difficult situation. They face various hardships and have both friendly and dangerous interactions with the island's residents. Their relatively harmonious life is disrupted by the arrival of another survivor, a convict named Irving, who is determined to escape to the Dutch Indies. Soon after, they learn they are not the only castaways on the island; Fletcher, a shipwrecked sailor, has been living there for some time but prefers isolation and tries to avoid contact with the newcomers.