Donald Crowhurst
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Donald Crowhurst (1932–1969) was an English businessman and amateur sailor who died while competing in the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, a single-handed, round-the-world yacht race. Crowhurst had entered the race in hopes of winning a cash prize from the Sunday Times to aid his failing business. Instead, he encountered difficulty early in the voyage, and secretly abandoned the race while reporting false positions, in an attempt to appear to complete a circumnavigation without actually circling the world. Evidence found after his disappearance indicates that this attempt ended in insanity and suicide.
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[edit] Early life
Crowhurst was born in 1932 in Ghaziabad, India. His mother was a school teacher and his father worked on the India railway. After India gained independence, his family moved back to England; however, money saved working in India was worth considerably less in England, and the family found life in their new home very difficult.
Due to family financial problems, Donald was forced to leave school early and join the Royal Air Force; he later received a commission as a pilot. Later he was asked to leave the RAF; later still, he joined the Army. After leaving the Army due to a disciplinary incident, he eventually moved to Bridgwater and started a business called Electron Utilisation Ltd. He was active in his local community as a member of the Liberal Party and in 1967 was elected to represent the Central Ward of Bridgwater Town Council.
[edit] Business ventures
Crowhurst, a weekend sailor, designed and built a radio direction finder called the Navicator. This device allowed the user to take bearings on marine and aviation radio beacons with a handheld device. While he did have some success selling his navigational equipment, his business began to fail. In an effort to gain publicity, he started trying to gain sponsors to enter the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race.
[edit] The Golden Globe
The Golden Globe Race was inspired by Francis Chichester's successful single-handed round-the-world voyage, stopping in Sydney. The considerable publicity to which his achievement gave rise led a number of sailors to plan the next logical step — a non-stop, single-handed, round-the-world sail.
The Sunday Times had sponsored Chichester, with highly profitable results, and was interested in being involved with the first non-stop circumnavigation; but they had the problem of not knowing which sailor to sponsor. They solved this by declaring the Golden Globe Race, a single-handed round-the-world race, open to all comers, with automatic entry. This was in contrast to other races of the time, for which entrants were required to demonstrate their single-handed sailing ability prior to entry.[1] Entrants were required to start between June 1 and October 31, in order to pass through the Southern Ocean in summer.[2] The prizes offered were the Golden Globe trophy for the first single-handed circumnavigation, and a £5,000 cash prize for the fastest. This was a considerable sum then, equivalent to £58,100 in 2005.[3]
The other contestants were Robin Knox-Johnston, Nigel Tetley, Bernard Moitessier, Chay Blyth, John Ridgway, Bill King, Alex Carozzo, and Loïck Fougeron. "Tahiti" Bill Howell, a noted multihull sailor and competitor in the 1964 and 1968 OSTAR races, originally signed up as an entrant but did not actually race.
[edit] Crowhurst's boat and preparations
The boat Crowhurst built for the trip, Teignmouth Electron, was a 40-foot trimaran designed by Californian Arthur Piver. At the time, this was an unproven type of sailing boat for a voyage of such length. Trimarans have the potential to sail much more quickly than monohulled sailboats, but early designs in particular could be very slow if overloaded, and had considerable difficulty sailing close to the wind. Trimarans are popular with many sailors for their stability; however, if capsized (for example by a rogue wave), they are virtually impossible to right, in contrast to monohulls, and this would typically be a fatal disaster for the boat's crew.
To improve the safety of the boat, Crowhurst had planned to add an inflatable buoyancy bag on the top of the mast to prevent capsizing; this would be activated by water sensors on the hull designed to detect an impending capsize. This would hold the boat horizontal, and a clever arrangement of pumps would allow him to flood the uppermost outer hull, which would (in conjunction with wave action) pull the boat upright. His scheme was to prove these devices by sailing round the world with them, then go into business manufacturing the system.
However, Crowhurst had a very short time in which to build and equip his boat, while securing financing and sponsors for the race at the same time. In the end, all of his safety devices were left uncompleted; he planned to complete them while underway. Also, many of his spares and supplies were left behind in the confusion of the final preparations for leaving.
[edit] Departure and deception
Crowhurst left from Teignmouth, Devon, on the last day permitted by the rules: October 31, 1968. He encountered immediate problems with his boat and equipment, and in the first few weeks was making less than half of his planned speed. According to his logs, he gave himself only 50/50 odds of surviving the trip, assuming that he was able to complete some of the safety equipment before reaching the dangerous South Seas.
Since leaving, Crowhurst had been deliberately ambiguous in his radio report of his location. Starting on December 6, 1968, he continued reporting further vague but false positions and possibly fabricating a log book; rather than continuing to the Southern Ocean, he sailed erratically in the southern Atlantic Ocean, and stopped once in South America (in violation of the rules) to make repairs to his boat. A great deal of the voyage was spent in radio silence, while his supposed position was inferred by extrapolation based on his earlier reports. By early December, based on his false reports, he was being cheered worldwide as the likely winner of the race, though Francis Chichester publicly expressed doubts about the plausibility of Crowhurst's progress.
On April 22, 1969, Robin Knox-Johnston was the first to complete the race, leaving Crowhurst supposedly in the running against Tetley for second to finish, and possibly still able to beat Knox-Johnston's time (due to his later starting date). In reality, Tetley was far in the lead, having long ago passed within 150 miles of Crowhurst's hiding place; but believing himself to be in a hurry, Tetley pushed his failing boat (also a 40-foot Piver trimaran) to the breaking point, and had to abandon ship on May 30. The pressure on Crowhurst increased, since he now looked certain to win the "elapsed time" race. If he appeared to have completed the fastest circumnavigation, his log books would be closely examined by experienced sailors, including Chichester, and the deception in all probability would be exposed. It is also likely that he felt guilty about wrecking Tetley's genuine circumnavigation. He had by this time begun to make his way back as if he had rounded Cape Horn.
Crowhurst ended radio transmissions on June 29. Teignmouth Electron was found adrift, unoccupied, on July 10.
[edit] Mental breakdown and death
Crowhurst's behavior as recorded in his logs indicates a complex and conflicted psychological state. His commitment to faking the trip seemed incomplete and self-defeating, as he reported unrealistically fast progress that was sure to arouse suspicion. By contrast, he spent many hours meticulously constructing false log entries—often more difficult to complete than real entries, due to the celestial navigation research required.
The last several weeks of his log entries, once he was facing a real possibility of winning the prize, showed increasing irrationality. In the end, his writings during the voyage—poems, quotations, real and fake log entries, and random thoughts—amounted to more than 25,000 words. The log books include an attempt to construct a philosophical reinterpretation of the human condition that would provide an escape from his impossible situation. The number 243 shows up several times in these writings: he originally planned to finish the trip in 243 days, recorded a false distance of 243 nautical miles in one day's sailing (which if valid would have been a record day's run at the time), and appears to have ended his life on the 243rd day (July 1).
His last log entry was on June 29, 1969; it is assumed that he then jumped overboard and drowned. The state of the boat gave no indication that it had been overrun by a freak wave, or that any accident had occurred which might have caused Crowhurst to fall overboard. He may have taken with him a single deceptive log book and the ship's clock. Three log books (two navigational logs and a radio log) were left on his boat in order to communicate his philosophical ideas and to reveal his actual navigational course during the voyage.
Although his biographers, Tomalin and Hall, discounted the possibility that some sort of food poisoning contributed to his mental condition, they acknowledged the fact that there is insufficient evidence to rule that possibility out.
[edit] Aftermath
Robin Knox-Johnston donated his winnings to Donald Crowhurst's widow and children. Nigel Tetley was awarded a consolation prize and built a new trimaran, but committed suicide (for unknown reasons) in 1972.
Teignmouth Electron was later taken to Jamaica and sold to Bunnie Francis, who repaired the boat and offered pleasure cruises aboard her. In 1975, the boat was sold to George McDermot, who sailed it with his family and friends till 1979, when he sold it to his brother, Winston McDermot, who sailed her to Grand Cayman to use in his scuba diving business. Winston McDermot claimed that Teignmouth Electron was haunted. He moved the boat to the island of Cayman Brac, where it was damaged in a hurricane. It was laid up out of the water, but the repairs were never carried out, and the boat remains, steadily decaying, in the dunes.[4]
[edit] Literary and dramatic treatment
One episode of the 1979-80 BBC drama Shoestring had the title character involved in a plot that bore a striking resemblence to the Crowhurst story.
In 1986, the film Race of the Century (Russian: Гонка века, "Gonka veka"), based on the Crowhurst affair, was released in the Soviet Union.
American author Robert Stone based his critically acclaimed 1992 novel Outerbridge Reach on the Crowhurst tragedy.
British artist Tacita Dean created two video works entitled Disappearance at Sea, partly inspired by the story of Donald Crowhurst. She has also written about Teignmouth Electron, journeying to Cayman Brac to visit the wreck of the boat.[5] [6]
Crowhurst's story was the inspiration for the 1999 2-person play "Daniel Pelican" written by and starring Chris Van Strander. In the piece, the British Crowhurst becomes Daniel Pelican, from Maine, in the USA, and enters a round-the-world yacht race on the heels of "Lindy Fever" following Charles Lindbergh's transatlantic flight. The site-specific play ran Off-Off-Broadway at the historic Frying Pan Lightship, docked in New York harbor.
An opera based on Crowhurst, Ravenshead, was written and performed by operatic tenor Rinde Eckert in 1998. Eckert transforms Crowhurst into "Richard Ravenshead" and his ship from the Electron to the Photon. The solo performance follows Ravenshead from the launch of the ship in England to his insanity and suicide in the Atlantic. [1]
Crowhurst's story features in "Jet Lag", a 2000 play written by Jessica Chalmers and produced by Builders Association. The story of the doomed sea voyage is interwoven with the story of Sarah Krassnoff, who in 1971 flew 167 times between New York City and Amsterdam, trying to keep her grandson from being returned to his father's custody, before collapsing and dying of "jetlag". [2]
UK based independent Darlow Smithson Productions produced a 2006 documentary film for Film Four based on the affair, called Deep Water. [3] It was given a limited cinema release in the UK.[4]
The rock band Stiltskin performed a song called "Horse" on their album The Mind's Eye, which examined the affair from Crowhurst's perspective.
The band "Super U" [5]have put a demo of a song "Places I've been to are known" online, which reflects on the Donald Crowhurst story, in the context of the songwriter's experience of the sea.
The 2006 film "Deep Water" (Louise Osmond and Jerry Rothwell) reconstructs his voyage from Crowhurst's own audio tapes and cine film, interwoven with archive footage and interviews with his widow, his son, and others who knew him and were connected with his adventure. It is a moving and sympathetic portrait of a troubled man.
Matt Elliott, under the "band" name Third Eye Foundation, included an instrumental song named "Donald Crowhurst" on the album Ghost.
[edit] References
- ^ A Voyage for Madmen, by Peter Nichols; page 17. Harper Collins, 2001. ISBN 0-06-095703-4
- ^ A Voyage for Madmen, page 30.
- ^ Inflation: the value of the pound 1750-2005, by Dominic Webb. RP 06/09, House of Commons Library, 2006.
- ^ Brac’s land wreck makes it to TV fame, Cayman Net News, June 17, 2005. Accessed online 29 December 2006.
- ^ Disappearance at Sea, by Tacita Dean.
- ^ Aerial View of Teignmouth Electron, Cayman Brac, by Tacita Dean, 16th September 1998.
- Tomalin, Nicholas, and Ron Hall (2003). The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst. Hodder & Stoughton Ltd. ISBN 0-07-141429-0
- Harris, John (1981). "Teignmouth Electron: A tragedy of loneliness" in Without a Trace. Atheneum. ISBN 0-689-11120-7
[edit] External links
- Teignmouth Museum - includes map of actual and false journey (The original link is broken; this is a link to the Internet Archive, archiving the state of the page 4 June 2004)
- A Sunday Times article 2006
- Logbuch Donald (German)
