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"The sea drama of the century."-Sir Francis Chichester "A masterpiece."-The New Yorker "Fascinating, uncomfortable reading."-Hammond Innes "Wholly riveting, superbly professional, brilliantly researched, and presented with the sort of critical compassion that is the mark of really fine journalism. It was quite a new sort of book to me, and it cost me an entire night's sleep."-James Cameron "The extraordinary story...Nicholas Tomalin and Ron Hall...tell brilliantly, with commendable consideration and compassion for all concerned; especially for Crowhurst and his wife Clare, For me their narrative goes with the essential documents of our time."-Malcolm Muggeridge "One of the most extraordinary stories about the sea ever to be published."-The Washington Post
Product Description
In the autumn of 1968, Donald Crowhurst set out from England in his untested trimaran, a competitor in the first singlehanded nonstop around-the-world sailboat race. Eight months later, the boat was found in a calm mid-Atlantic, structurally intact with no one on board. Through Crowhurst's logs and diaries the world learned that, although he had radioed messages from his supposed round-the-world course, he had in fact never left the Atlantic. In this journalistic masterpiece, Nicholas Tomalin and Ron Hall reconstruct what happened: Crowhurst's growing distrust of his boat; his decision to attempt one of the greatest hoaxes of our time; his eleven-week radio silence; the secret visit to Argentina for repairs; the lying radio transmissions; the "triumphal" return up the Atlantic as the elapsed-time race leader; the increasing isolation wrought by his deception; and the fantastic ending. The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst is both a suspenseful narrative and a psychological casebook of human zeal and anguish. Finally, it takes us to the heart of darkness. This book was originally published in 1970. Heavily publicized in major media (including The New York Times and two U.S. television networks), it was a bestseller, and it left a lasting impression. International Marine issued a trade paperback edition in 1995. The Sailor's Classics would be incomplete without it. Raban's introduction to our Sailor's Classics edition offers an alternative interpretation of Crowhurst's demise. Tomalin and Hall thought that Crowhurst's madness was one of despair. Raban suggests that it might have been the dizzy elation of the manic. Drifting around in the South Atlantic, Crowhurst, a failed businessman, saw himself as Einstein's equal - a man who'd found the Truth at sea. When he stepped off his boat, carrying the ship's clock and his faked logbooks, he may actually have expected to walk on water. The Crowhurst story has a haunting life of its own, and Crowhurst lives on, perversely, as a mythic hero, inspiring the Robert Stone bestseller Outerbridge Reach, a one-man opera called "Ravenshead," a string of radio and TV programs, a rumored film in the making, and a new nonfiction account of that long-ago race, A Voyage for Madmen, written by Peter Nichols (author of Sea Change).
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DONALD CROWHURST was born in India, in 1932. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
DONALD CROWHURST was born in India, in 1932. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
An account from the logbooks of sailor Donald Crowhurst who attempted to sail non-stop, single-handed around the world as part of a boat race. All looked remarkably good for the enthusiastic amateur, when after 240 days at sea he was within two weeks of a triumphant return. But then he disappeared.
This was 1969. Before the sophisticated tracking used to check a vessel's progress, and all was taken as fact from the sailors logbooks. This is an account of what happened to a man hopelessly out of his depth, with the weight of expectation hanging heavy over him, and no-one but his unravelling mind for company.
This was 1969. Before the sophisticated tracking used to check a vessel's progress, and all was taken as fact from the sailors logbooks. This is an account of what happened to a man hopelessly out of his depth, with the weight of expectation hanging heavy over him, and no-one but his unravelling mind for company.
Quite simply a breath-taking and engrossing account of human failing and folly with the ability to stir up question marks within the story and one-self.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have read this superb book on many occasions and each time it makes me a little uncomfortable. Why? Because in many ways I identify myself in it, and I suspect many others will feel the same way. The need to feel accepted by your peers, to be on the same level as them and fit in. And the feeling that the only way to achieve it is to do something as extraordinary and mad as Donald Crowhurst did.
In this day and age of multi million pound yacht racing with their sleek sexy boats and electronic gizmos, hourly GPS assisted position reports, the sponsors name emblazoned on everything from the hull to the sunglasses worn by the crew, it is easy to forget that until as recently as the late 60`s, small boat circumnavigations were a journey into the unknown, the people who did it (or try to do it) genuine explorers. These people set off knowing that if their boat foundered, the chance of rescue was extremely slim. Donald Crowhurst was one of these people.
This book starts with a comprehensive look at Crowhursts early life, and it is here that the first seeds of the later tragedy were sown. When the doomed voyage finally gets underway, the authors Tomalin and Hall expertly unravel what is going on inside Crowhursts head from the very few clues he left behind.
Donald Crowhurst was left deeply trapped in a lose/lose situation of his own making. This book reveals chillingly how he tried to make sense of his self induced impossible predicament, and in the end tragically couldn`t.
If you only ever read one book in your life, make sure this is it.
In this day and age of multi million pound yacht racing with their sleek sexy boats and electronic gizmos, hourly GPS assisted position reports, the sponsors name emblazoned on everything from the hull to the sunglasses worn by the crew, it is easy to forget that until as recently as the late 60`s, small boat circumnavigations were a journey into the unknown, the people who did it (or try to do it) genuine explorers. These people set off knowing that if their boat foundered, the chance of rescue was extremely slim. Donald Crowhurst was one of these people.
This book starts with a comprehensive look at Crowhursts early life, and it is here that the first seeds of the later tragedy were sown. When the doomed voyage finally gets underway, the authors Tomalin and Hall expertly unravel what is going on inside Crowhursts head from the very few clues he left behind.
Donald Crowhurst was left deeply trapped in a lose/lose situation of his own making. This book reveals chillingly how he tried to make sense of his self induced impossible predicament, and in the end tragically couldn`t.
If you only ever read one book in your life, make sure this is it.
23 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Although Sir Francis Chichester called this, with justice, "the sea drama of the century", it really is not so much a "sea drama" as a human drama that takes place at sea. The subject, Donald Crowhurst, finds himself at sea in more ways than one, and the reader is rivetted as the plot thickens and various developments take him further into danger. His story is masterfully presented by highly gifted authors, who are right when they claim to provide the evidence by which the reader may form his own judgements, which may differ from theirs (as mine does in certain particulars and in my understanding of Crowhurst's affliction). The writing is crisp, lively, and focussed; the authors deserve full credit for taking their subject seriously and giving him the painstaking attention that he--and his paper trail of hope and suffering--clearly warranted. Again, this book is not primarily about the sea or sailing, though there's plenty of detail in that respect, very interesting even for a non-sailor. Crowhurst's story is really about making hard choices, or more particularly, about making a terrible choice at a critical moment, when everything seems to hang in the balance and when "every way you look at it, you lose". It is this crisis, grappled with so earnestly and heartbreakingly by Donald Crowhurst, that makes the book worthwhile, profound, and timeless.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A lonely challenge
The initial Sunday times round the world race was held with a number of solo yatchsmen participating with varying start dates/locations. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Malmo
Gripping
I came to this book via "A Voyage for Madmen", which tells the story of all nine Golden Globe entrants. Read more
Published on 27 April 2010 by Christopher Woodmansey
Moving, Disturbing & Essential
I first came across the story of Donald Crowhurst in Peter Nichols' brilliant "A Voyage for Madmen". Read more
Published on 26 Mar 2010 by Balraj Gill
A good read even for a non sailor
I bought this book for my husband - he is a keen dinghy sailor and he really enjoyed it. I'd heard a little of the story through other media and thought it sounded interesting so... Read more
Published on 19 Jan 2010 by K. Ayre
compulsive reading
Donald Crowhurst as the author points out was probably an arrogant boaster down the local sailing club, and as a result got himself into such deep water, metaphorically and... Read more
Published on 23 Aug 2009 by Kevin
Unforgettable. Read it.
Probably one of the most searing books about humanity you will ever read.
I urge anyone to buy this book. One of the few reads that will stay with you for a long time. Read more
I urge anyone to buy this book. One of the few reads that will stay with you for a long time. Read more
Published on 10 April 2009 by J. Swift
Alone, alone, all all alone, alone on a wide wide sea
This is a wonderful book about a truly remarkable, moving and literally tragic misadventure. I first stumbled across Donald Crowhurst's story through a terrific Channel 4 feature... Read more
Published on 26 Jan 2008 by O. Buxton
Unputdownable
I read this book in two evenings flat - I couldn't put it down. It is the definitive account of the life of Donald Crowhurst and his weird and tragic voyage. Read more
Published on 17 Jan 2008 by Debbie King
The Complete Donald Crowhurst
This book is without doubt the best-researched of the 'Electron-related books. Tomalin and Hall were given access to Crowhurst's logbook/diary and could see at first hand exactly... Read more
Published on 7 Mar 2003 by Tony Hughes
This is a superb book
A startling and emotionally draining journey. Just shows what loneliness and arrogance do to you. Excellent
Published on 20 July 2000 by adam.rockingham@virgin.net
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