Donald Crowhurst
Donald Charles Alfred Crowhurst (* 1932 in Ghaziabad, British India, † probably July 1, 1969 in the North Atlantic ) was a British businessman and amateur sailor who was known by the unusual circumstances of his participation in a yacht race from which he never returned.
Life
Donald Crowhurst was born in British India, the son of a senior English railway employees and a teacher. After India's independence in 1947, the family moved to England and lived in poor economic conditions that Crowhurst made a study impossible. He embarked on a military career and was trained in the Royal Air Force as a pilot. He was however suggested by this as well as of the British Army, which he then joined, respectively, due to various of intelligence and except THE SERVICE escapades to take his leave.
From 1957 worked Crowhurst, who had also completed an electrical training in the Royal Air Force, for the electronics company Mullard and 1962, in Bridgwater with a small electronics company called Electron Utilisation Ltd.. independently. The main product of the company was a radio direction finder called Navicator, a handheld device for Einpeilen of beacons for navigation in the private shipping. Economically, it was with the company but soon downhill (initially there were six employees in 1967 but only Crowhurst itself and a hourly employee technician), so Crowhurst to the existence of his family - began to fear - he had with his wife Clare four children.
1962 Crowhurst had bought a small sailboat called Golden Pot, but completed so at best weekend trips near his residence.
The Sunday Times Golden Globe Race
After the successful single-handed circumnavigation of Sir Francis Chichester August 1966 to May 1967 with the ketch Gipsy Moth IV tried the London Sunday Times, which had reported extensively on Chichester travel to use the arisen in the UK enthusiasm for navigation in publishing. Since Chichester had inserted a stop in Australia during his journey, remained the first non-stop single-handed circumnavigation of the globe as more goal to be achieved. The newspaper founded on 17 March 1968 trophy, the Golden Globe, the solo sailors who would start between June 1 and October 31, 1968 by any port in the British Isles to a non-stop circumnavigation of the globe and return the first. Another prize of 5,000 pounds ( according to current purchasing power about 73,000 euros ) was suspended for the fastest circumnavigation of the globe. The race was open to everyone, proof seafaring knowledge was not required.
Crowhurst was convinced, despite its small sailing experience that he win the race and then sell the products of his company better and with the prize money and the expected revenue from book and advertising contracts could pay off his debts. But he had neither an ocean going boat nor the necessary financial means. After an attempt had failed to move the Cutty Sark Society in Greenwich to ask him the Gipsy there issued Moth IV for the regatta are available, found Crowhurst in the entrepreneur Stanley Best one donor who, however, as security a mortgage on Crowhurst Enter the house and had agreed by contract that Electron Utilisation Ltd.. must buy back the boat from him, when the race would not commenced or terminated prematurely.
The participants in the order of their start with their starting locations were John Ridgway (June 1, 1968 Inishmore ), Chay Blyth (June 8, 1968 Hamble -le- Rice), Robin Knox - Johnston ( June 14, 1968, Falmouth ), Bernard Moitessier ( August 21, 1968, Plymouth), Loick Fougeron ( August 21, 1968, Plymouth), Bill King ( August 24, 1968, Plymouth) and Nigel Tetley ( September 16, 1968, Plymouth), who, like Crowhurst with a Trimaran was traveling. At the last possible day, October 31, 1968 Alex started Carozzo ( Cowes ) and Crowhurst himself, whose journey began in Teignmouth.
Course of the race
Since the funding was not secured before the end of May 1968 Crowhurst could it go until five months before the last possible start date to find a boat yard. He had chosen a trimaran ketch rigging and finally found shipyards in Brightlingsea and Brundall, the ready set the boat in a record time of four months. He also hired the journalist Rodney Hallworth as a PR consultant who organized the harbor town of Teignmouth on the southwest coast of the English Channel as a sponsor and the starting point for Crowhurst.
Already on the maiden voyage to Teignmouth from 2 to 15 October 1968 ( the duration of which had been originally estimated by Crowhurst to three days), it became clear that the name of Teignmouth Electron baptized twelve-meter long boat before the wind, although quite fast sailed, its maneuverability, however, was limited by the fact that it could control a maximum of 60 ° against the wind. Due to the late arrival in Teignmouth remained for Crowhurst hardly had time to familiarize yourself with the trimaran or developed by him capsize - an automatically inflatable floats on top of the mast - complete. After überhastetem Clear Make the boat, in which important spare parts and equipment not even came on board or were stowed so that Crowhurst could no longer be found at sea, he started in Teignmouth as the last participants of the race on October 31, 1968 at 16: 52 clock.
Soon Crowhurst was clear that the Teignmouth Electron was much slower than expected and only limited seaworthy (he had to fight from the beginning with leaks in boat hulls and damage to the autopilot ) and he would have no chance, the long distance to cover, let because the dangerous Cape Horn to circumnavigate. Nevertheless, he sent upbeat radio news back home, where he gave much exaggerated Etmale, including one in the record high of 243 nautical miles (450 km). These messages, which were additionally decorated by Hallworth, aroused the public the impression that Crowhurst developed secret favorite of the race.
As early December 1968 Crowhurst feigned position and be exaggerated optimistic schedule began so to deviate significantly from the actual distance traveled, that it would have been impossible to catch this and to arrive in the southern hemisphere at Cape Horn before the particularly stormy winter, he decided not continue on towards the Cape of good Hope, but to stay in the Atlantic and to compete after a few months of waiting the way home, so as to feign a completed circumnavigation. The leakage of boat hulls had reached such a degree that it would have been dangerous to life under these conditions, to go into the storm zone of the Roaring Forties. Since a suitable hose on board was missing, the bilge pump was useless, so Crowhurst could only pump out out with a bucket. In a storm it would have been impossible. Giving up was not for Crowhurst but the question because he was of the opinion that this - except for the embarrassment because of the fake cheering reports of his alleged records - even the bankruptcy of his company and the financial ruin of his family had to have the result.
Under the pretext of a generator damage he broke off radio contact, as it would otherwise have been obvious when he had reported to his alleged drive to the east does not have Australian and New Zealand coastal radio stations. He also began to lead a fake logbook, with which he hoped to prove the alleged circumnavigation after his return. Crowhurst first reported to the April 7, 1969 again by radio at Hallworth, which the news reached three days later. He pretended to approach the Diego Ramirez Islands and therefore are nearing the rounding of Cape Horn. In the meantime ( from 6th to 8th March), he had been forced to commit a further breach of the rules of the race and to run a small fishing port on the Río de la Plata in Argentina, because he urgently had to repair leaks in his boat.
Ridgway, Blyth, Fougeron, King and Carozzo had been gradually forced by storm damage or disease to give up, and the Moitessier clearly lying in leadership had decided, after Cape Horn already happened not to be monopolized commercially, the race cancel and weiterzusegeln to Tahiti. Robin Knox - Johnston met on 22 April 1969 as the first participant back into the UK. He was given a triumphal reception.
The end
After winning Knox - Johnston, who had used for his circumnavigation of the world with 312 days quite long, Crowhurst and Tetley were still in the running for the prize for the fastest non-stop single-handed round the world sailor. As Crowhurst now but fearing that his fake logbook would close scrutiny by experts, which was to be expected in case of victory not withstand, he planned only to break towards home when he could no longer be contested Tetley the title. He hoped thereby to escape exposure because he was sure that no one would check the logs of a subscriber who had not won a of the two prices.
However, this was thwarted that Tetley - who accepted that Crowhurst close on his heels was - too risky and sailed on May 21, 1969 near the Azores with his trimaran was shipwrecked.
As Crowhurst became clear that the "victory" was now inevitable ( Hallworth told him about his plans for the roaring reception in Teignmouth, the BBC wanted to meet send him a helicopter to take tapes and films in receiving by radio ), he despaired, broke radio contact from again and sank into mental derangement. His records from the past few weeks consist of tangled philosophical and physical treatises, with a total of over 25,000 words, on the basis of Einstein's Relativity: The Special and the General Theory of Relativity, one of the few books he had on board. On 1 July 1969 the 243rd day of the trip and the day on which he was the original plan after again had back in England want to be, he led an accurate record of his last minutes and went probably exactly at 12:00 noon clock with marine chronometers and the fake logbook in hand into the water. These were the only items that were missing in the cabin. Crowhurst boat was discovered by the British mail ship Picardy in the North Atlantic ( Lage33.183333333333 - 40.433333333333 ) undamaged but empty on 10 July 1969. His body was not found. The Teignmouth Electron was taken away by the mail boat to Santo Domingo and later sold to Jamaica. Today it is - a wreck - found on Cayman Brac.
Robin Knox - Johnston donated the price of 5000 pounds for the fastest non-stop single-handed circumnavigation of the globe, which has now also awarded him for Crowhurst 's widow and his children.