MovieChat Forums > The Mercy (2018) Discussion > My Dad lent him his sextant ...

My Dad lent him his sextant ...

posted 8 years ago by andyhise
2 replies | jump to latest

We have a family link to this story... my father Richard Hiseman - a former merchant seaman and navigator - knew Donald Crowhurst, and lent him his sextant which Crowhurst took on his voyage.

The sextant, like Crowhurst, was never seen again.

Referenced elsewhere on these pages, Nicholas Tomalin and Ron Hall's classic book The Strange Last Voyage Of Donald Crowhurst (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Strange-Voyage-Crowhurst-Sailors-Classics/dp/0071414290) provides incredible and poignant detail, as does the brilliant DEEP WATER drama documentary from Osmond/Rothwell (I think the Colin Firth movie is based on this doc).

Looking forward to seeing this in cinemas, although it'll be a grim couple of hours.

[–] andyhise 7 years ago

DC came to our house in Puriton, Somerset (where I was born), and my Dad showed him how to use the sextant by measuring the angle between the top of a lamp post and the pavement ...

[–] liscarkat (16530) 5 years ago

In early 1968, I dropped by Donald Crowhurst's house for a chat, and his lovely wife made me a sandwich.