I guess poor old Donald wasn't thinking too clearly at the end, but when he learned that Tetley had sunk, why didn't he just scuttle his own yacht in the Atlantic shipping lanes and take to his dinghy? No log books, no evidence, no humilation, good chance of being picked up.
I was thinking the same. It's something of a puzzle - unless he did think of that solution but fell overboard anyway. On the other hand, his written 'philosophy' suggests that he had lost his sanity by then. A fascinating story.
shareI agree. It does seem as though he'd gone a bit crackers. I can imagine though, every single day having to contemplate his predicament, with nothing else to do (certainly nowhere to be going), except turn the situation over in his head, he must have been going bonkers very early on.
Perhaps when Tetley sank it seemed to Donald as though there really was someone conspiring against him (hence the 'chessgame' comments). And so he decided to just... stop.
I can't imagine what it would have been like. I'd have given up too. I lived by myself for nine months until September just gone, and even with all my buddies coming round I didn't like being by myself so much. Can't imagine what it would have been like completely alone for 10 months.
Is it certain that Tetley's voyage was legitimate? Is it possible that he cheated too , changed his mind and scuttled his boat?
shareTetley was the only one of the remaining 4 with a working radio transmitter and was constantly sending messages back home. Fixes could be taken on where he was transmitting from. That's why Crowhurst said his transmitter would be shutting down due to water damage - so nobody would be able to get an accurate fix on his true position. Also, I'm pretty sure Tetley was spotted on his voyage by other ships and he passed his film and photos onto a passing ship.
sharePerhaps when Tetley sank it seemed to Donald as though there really was someone conspiring against him
I think you're right, Mouldy. He was probably a little paranoid to start with (He seemed to have delusions of grandeur as well as a bit of a persecution complex) and towards the end began to think that God and the universe in general was out to get him personally and whatever he did was going to end badly - virtually the last entry in his log said something like "it is time to resign the game".
"The hour is come but not the man"
Hold on. Isn't it correct that Crowhurst would have been forced to buy his boat, ruining him financially, if he gave up or was unable to finish the race? Thus, when Tetley sank Crowhurst was in an impossible position.
shareI think that only applied if he dropped out in the early parts of the race, zxcv-9.
shareThe one thing you said which was wrong: " good chance of being picked up."
I've read a dozen books by boating survivors. They ALL said ships passed right by them and didn't see them. As one boater told me, "when you get into the life boat, you are in for a whole new set of trouble. taking a gun for suicide isn't a remote thought among boaters."
One thing no one has mentioned is the fact that after he set shore to fix his boat....he may have from that day been extremely paranoid of the fact that he made human contact which could come back to haunt him due to the huge exposure the event would cause. He may have felt doomed from the moment he hit the waters again as his mind and thoughts futher continued their downward spiral. Just a thought. Great film.
good point. what a movie. you could not make up a more compelling story.
shareExcellent point. With all the hoopla and I think they said 100,000 people waiting for the winner not even including all the media coverage... Don C. was probably in a fix that he couldn't get out of without the funds which he was lacking in the first place. Maybe he should have just beached the boat in South America and taken on a new life? That was easy to do back then compared to all the computer cross referencing that takes place today on one's identity.
As someone else pointed out on this board, my impression was he was 'disturbed' long before engaging in the race. I read he "was asked to leave the air force" and then later joined the Army where he was released once again for "discipline" reasons. When you just look at his facial expressions, he seems to be a man in emotional agony despite the faint smiles.
I just checked the book out of the library today: Voyage For Madmen & I've got the second book, "The last strange voyage of don..." on order.
Another person wondered if Don C. was THE poster boy for modern sailing races and how NOT to select the participants. i.e. no requirements at all. But, in a way, thats too bad because the amature nature of the race is what made he entire story so powerful. That one man killed himself ought not to really make a difference. People do that all the time around the globe AND he was, as I suspect, prone to that anyway and the race was simply his final effort to "make it" in life. It doesn't reflect, I don't think, on anyone other than himself. And, even for him, it says only that he was suffering internally more than most of us and nothing more.
He was paranoid about that. The DVD interviewed a man who was there when Crowhurst showed up in their little coastside harbor. He said Crowhurst was "nervous" and "very happy" when the boat was fixed.
Crowhurst, though, struck me as a man with very, very fragile emotions. He could barely make it through life let alone try to undertake a dangerous sea voyage that was not only lonely but physically hard.
Remember the 27 year old ex-paratrooper (Chay) who had rowed a boat across the Atlantic two years prior to the race and said that even HE was very tired on the sailing voyage. It was physically demanding. Crowhurst was neither strong in the mind nor body.
I suspect that the mention by one person of a filmed suicide was only the fictionalized, hollywood version. I can't find any reference to that. The log books were only making the end of Crowhurst appear as a suicide... he wrote... "it is finished, it is finished, it is the mercy" ...... ( he wasn't religious, by the way, and nearly an athiest ).
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I just got to a point in the book that also shows "taking to his dinghy" would have been certain death.
The eventual winner, Robin Knox-Johnson, got to a point where he merely wanted to flag down another boat to pass word and film and notes back to the London Times... he hadn't been in contact for four months. So, he attempted to flag down the only freighter he saw near him. He signaled them by light right into their bridge windows. Then he lighted a hand flare. THEY RESPONDED BY LIGHT BACK AT HIM but kept moving. He then shot off a 3 minute distress flare. THEY IGNORED HIM AFTER ACKNOWLEDGING HIM AND SAILED OFF !!!!!! He was stunned. They didn't know what the situation was & yet they ignored his distress flares!
READ the book " voyage for madmen " ..... great.
What if Crowhurst had stayed at sea longer than Knox-Johnson did before returning home? Then Crowhurst would not have been entitled to a prize and perhaps his log books would not have been scrutinized.
shareAs I remember it, that was his strategy. But he was already going nuts and the thought of staying out there alone all that much longer was probably beyond what he could take emotionally.
shareKeep in mind he just sat off the coast of Brazil, in calm warm seas for 80% of the journey getting drunk. He endured nothing but his own cowardice.
Remember Tetley sunk in part to pushing himself to stay ahead of Crowhurst's imaginary position and he nearly died in the process. This is the act that made him a coward in my book. He was endangering the lives of others when he didn't have to. Plus he didn't contact his wife or kids, not even a letter. What a horrible legacy.
he did try to contact his wife and kids near the end, but the radio was out. Yes, he put Tetley in jeopardy but it wasnt cowardice per say.
You lost today, kid. But that doesn't mean you have to like it.
he did try to contact his wife and kids near the end, but the radio was out.
It was probably that that pushed him right over the edge - he needed human contact, even if it was just a voice on the radio and suddenly he was utterly alone. (Or, in Crowhurst's mind, alone with God - and God had it in for him personally)
Yes, he put Tetley in jeopardy but it wasnt cowardice per say.
It wasn't even intentional. He was supposed to finish behind Tetley and slip away in obscurity while Tetley became the nation's hero. He wasn't to know that Tetley's boat was a heap of seagoing junk (Though, I suppose he could have guessed, seeing as Teignmouth Electron was built to similar specifications as Tetley's boat)
And cowardice? Whatever else Crowhurst was he was no coward. He put to sea in a boat that was hopelessly unfit for purpose with gadgets that didn't work and at least one serious leak - as well as being mentally and emotionally unsuited to solo yachting himself. And yet he gave it a go, probably knowing that he was going to crash and burn.
"The hour is come but not the man"
And cowardice? Whatever else Crowhurst was he was no coward. He put to sea in a boat that was hopelessly unfit for purpose with gadgets that didn't work and at least one serious leak - as well as being mentally and emotionally unsuited to solo yachting himself. And yet he gave it a go, probably knowing that he was going to crash and burn.
You can be unafraid of your own death and still be a coward.
I think his mental health and psychological burdens blinded him to any feasible solutions. Suicide was his only option, whether he was sane or not. The scrutiny that awaited him if he finished would have surely broken him.
What surprises me is that he didn't sink his boat or at the very least, destroy his logbooks to spare the shame that his family would endure. This likely shows us how unsound his mind was, because I deeply believe he loved his family, and would have done anything to spare them heartache.
Or maybe he left it all out there, his boat and logbooks, as evidence and justification for his suicide.
I cringe thinking about his final thoughts when he stepped off his boat into the ocean. What agony he surely suffered.
p.s. this my favourite movie of all time. I recommend reading the following books if you were as captivated as I was by this tragic tale:
A Voyage for Madmen
The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst
>>I think his mental health and psychological burdens blinded him to any feasible solutions. Suicide was his only option, whether he was sane or not. The scrutiny that awaited him if he finished would have surely broken him.
I got the feeling he wasn't very strong psychologically before the trip, especially when his wife lamented how she could have said "Don't go" as he sobbed the night before. She suggests she was afraid of the repercussions if she did.
Also what anyone hasn't really talked about is the fact of the impact of your thoughts and spiritual beliefs. When times get rough you need the almighty creator of the universe at your side, not estrange yourself from Him. I would think one of my reasons to sail around the world and live by myself is to experience God and feel closer to Him. Not to just please people or set a record. That isn't going to please you in the end. Plus the fact that you have no faith, start trouble with God and lose the last grasp of hope or assistence you need to survive. Without God you will lose your mind. You will have nothing else to live for. Because nothing on this temporary earth will satisfy. So in that sense, I would have lost my mind maybe too without having the sense that an immense spiritual force is above me, is in control of everything, and to protect me. I would be thankful to Him that I survived the race, and not waste it all. So I would never ever start a race without a big faith (not only in yourself but in the universe and God), because nature, karma or God could turn themseleves against you. I hope God had mercy on his soul though.
sharecrazy god botherer
shareI wonder if he did not escape in some way.
Maybe he set the boat on a course to the Sargasso sea and got off
onto another ship?
Or, maybe he just made a mistake and fell off the boat?
1) UnWatchable 2)Watchable,ButBad 3)Decent,SeeOnce 4)Good,Repeat&Recommend 5)Great,Classic