Donald Crowhurst

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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Entertainment

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• Donald
• Crowhurst
• BBC
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• ChichesterRobin
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[JonathanAgain]

Significance is found for both maritime history and sailing psychology. Crowhurt's attempt to cheat required an immense, almost staggering capability of math and navigation which is rarely found even among experienced sailors; especially in this day of GPS navigation. His psychological demise during the race is a fascinating personal study of the toll taken on all long distance alone sailors, and offers a wealth of perspective on the psychological impact of loneliness and isolation.

[porpoisefathom]

JonathanAgain well put...he may have even been more in touch on a spiritual level under that duress and not as mad as people think. was he rational? maybe, maybe not...i don't agree with the theory it was suicide. but ultimately we really don't know exactly what happened to him. when you read his log it gets surprisingly very true to mystical understandings- something that can only happen on a long distance voyage alone. in his log he makes some very poetic and insightful comments.

[FigmentSALabel]

awesome and total proof when i saw it only some weeks ago that my childhood memory is sound and that my own purpose is true and straight. i only saw it accidentally on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in South Australia and in the middle of my own hard yards it landed perfectly. It was not presented as a sailing documentary but a pure victory of the soul. i know that i don't have to die to get where i need to go.

[Fantageous]

Tragic but brilliant story.

[msf60khz]

I can't understand why, from the technical standpoint, when his HF long range radio failed, he tried to modify his MF short range radio to do the job. All that had happened was the HF radio power supply failed. Why not just rob power from the MF to run the HF? An easy task compared to a total rebuild. He was an absolute genius to try to do it. I always remember now never be afraid to turn back to port, no matter how many well wishers sent you off.

[drgeorgeinfo]

I wounder if he wear better prepaired and his boat was built correctly, would he have went around the horn???

[clifflindsey]

reading it now, crowhurst was a silly man.

[frychoc]

read A voyage for madmen by Peter Nichols (a fantastic account of the race ) and then if you're keen,

The strange voyage of Donald Crowhurst by Nicholas Tomalin and Ron Hall.

Robin Knox Johnston gave his 5000 pound prize for fastest time to Donald's widow.

[AlanAlan2001]

It's so strange that we can't survive for too long in isolation!

[porpoisefathom]

Hi JonathanAgain I really value your responses to my posts. I like to hear different ideas. and i fully understand where your coming from. I personally see that kind of reaction to crowhursts psychological state as phenomenon and culturally biased.

[JonathanAgain]

I dunno PorpoiseFathom. Guess I look at it as a psychiatric issue, not one of spirituality or psychology. The aural hallucinations common to solitary long distance sailors fall into that same category; psychiatric/biological examples of the mind desperately trying to find connection to other human beings and its never ending search for cause. And while other cultures do not define it in the same terms, I don't know of any who did/do not have some form of of the word "crazy" in their own words.

[porpoisefathom]

however i think you make a good point regardless...ill look into it more.