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Book Review, © Copyright 1999, Jim Loy
Donald Crowhurst was involved in a round-the-world, non-stop, solo sailing race. He left England on October 31, 1968, the next to last competitor to leave, just before the deadline. His boat, the Teignmouth Electron, was a trimaran. He sailed at a disappointingly slow speed for a while, and then reported a few amazingly fast days. Radio communications halted as he approached the Cape of Good Hope, the southern tip of Africa, and nothing was heard from him for 111 days. Then radio communications resumed, as he re-entered the South Atlantic, around Cape Horn, the southern tip of South America. He was leading the race, and seemed assured of the trophy and the cash prize of 5000 pounds. Then, on July 10, 1969, his boat was found drifting in the Atlantic, with no one on board.
This book is the sad detective story of this voyage. Donald Crowhurst never left the Atlantic Ocean, he did not sail around the world. He left massive documentation which showed that he had cheated. Presumably, rather than complete his fraudulent voyage, he stepped into the ocean, and left the evidence for people to examine.
I have not given away any surprise ending. The book reminds us again and again just what tragedy is going to happen. This is a book about what is going on in the mind of this sad man who seems to have gone a little mad. It is fascinating.
There is now a book about this race: A Voyage for Madmen by Peter Nichols.
To order this book from amazon.com, click The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst - by Nicholas Tomalin & Ron Hall (goes directly to this book). In England, this book is named, The Strange Voyage of Donald Crowhurst. You can also order A Voyage for Madmen by Peter Nichols.