The Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst

March 18, 2005 9:22 AM

The Mysterious Voyage of Donald Crowhurst and the Teignmouth ElectronIn the autumn of 1968, Crowhurst set out from England in a homebuilt trimaran, to compete in the first solo nonstop around-the-world sailing race. Eight months later, the boat was found drifting and abandoned in mid-Atlantic. Crowhurst's diaries revealed that, although he had apparently radioed messages from his round-the-world course, he had in fact never left the Atlantic.
posted by carter (19 comments total)

I'm sorry. This is news, why?
posted by beelzbubba at 9:27 AM on March 18, 2005

how sad...

thanks carter--i'd never heard of this.
posted by amberglow at 9:31 AM on March 18, 2005

That is a fascinating read. Cool!
posted by Joey Michaels at 9:51 AM on March 18, 2005

I read the book years ago, an astounding story.
Nice post, thanks for the reminder carter!
posted by Floydd at 9:55 AM on March 18, 2005

I immediately recognized the plot of this novel.

The story has also inspired this movie and this opera.
posted by barjo at 9:58 AM on March 18, 2005

Shut the fuck up, beelzbubba.

This is great — I read The Strange Voyage of Donald Crowhurst as a kid and always found the story fascinating. Great to see someone's taken to time to put this much information online. I probably shouldn't admit that that book was a large part of what inspired me to live on a boat for a while.

The photographs of the Teignmouth Electron in 1991, still sound, and then in 2004, having completely gone to seed, are heartbreaking.
posted by IshmaelGraves at 9:59 AM on March 18, 2005

I'm sorry. This is news, why?
Yeah, seriously, NotNewsFilter! MF needs more current events news style posts, not this "best of the web" garbage!

This is a great post. Fascinating story and a well designed site.
posted by Capn at 10:31 AM on March 18, 2005

I'm sorry. This is news, why?

Thanks for coming out and admitting that you have no clue what the purpose of Metafilter is, saving us the effort of determining that after you post nothing but single links to news stories.
posted by jperkins at 11:36 AM on March 18, 2005

thanks a lot, a fascinating story, and i'd never heard about it before.

now that's what i call news
posted by quarsan at 11:39 AM on March 18, 2005

See also "A voyage for madmen" by Peter Nichols, a fine fine book
posted by hardcode at 11:40 AM on March 18, 2005

beelzbubba - you are sorry, why?
posted by davebush at 11:41 AM on March 18, 2005

An old sailor relative of mine had a coffee table book on ghost ships, not so much haunted as they were unpiloted and crewless when they were discovered. Really interesting to leaf through, but I'm having trouble conjuring up any specifics and that rendered my GS fruitless - anyone? (he's practically deaf and not the email type, so that he would be my last resort)

Found a nice gallery of shipwreck photos though.

thanks for the link...
posted by lazymonster at 11:42 AM on March 18, 2005

[this is really good]

I cannot imagine how terrifying a decision it would be to walk off the bow(rather like falling on one's sword.)

*shudders
posted by schyler523 at 11:44 AM on March 18, 2005

good stuff.
posted by srboisvert at 11:51 AM on March 18, 2005

Thanks for coming out and admitting that you have no clue what the purpose of Metafilter is, saving us the effort of determining that after you post nothing but single links to news stories.
posted by jperkins

My apologies. I'd hate to have my reputation established on the basis of my nonplussed reaction to this particular site. I thought the tale somewhat interesting--especially the last few days of Crowhurst's life--but I thought that the tears spent for the rotting hulk were either misspent or overdone. If the ship were to be saved, the time for action was long ago. I did not see the point of the excessive documentation of its ruin. Still don't.

Single links to news stories? Not me, Perkins; you've got me confused with someone else.
posted by beelzbubba at 12:02 PM on March 18, 2005

Metafilter: this is news, why?

[Interesting story. Thank you.]
posted by junkbox at 12:11 PM on March 18, 2005

Single links to news stories? Not me, Perkins; you've got me confused with someone else.

Yes, apparently you've been confused with someone who has actually posted a link, and so might have a better idea of what this site is about. Perhaps you were looking for CNN.com, though.
posted by botono9 at 1:01 PM on March 18, 2005

Fascinating stuff -- thanks, carter! A couple of notes:

I cannot imagine how terrifying a decision it would be to walk off the bow

The site says he walked off the stern. I don't know how they know, and they probably just made it up, but it would be a lot easier.

Point of information for those who care about such things: Teignmouth is pronounced TIN-muth, not however you were pronouncing it mentally.

beelzbubba: I don't personally think you're an evil asshat, but if you don't want to establish a reputation as one, here's a suggestion: if you read a link and think "meh," don't leave a comment, just move on to the next one. Particularly don't leave a comment if it's going to be the first one; just imagine what it's like to make a post and have the first comment be dismissive. (Someday you may actually try posting and have the chance to find out for yourself.) And if you absolutely have to leave the first comment and your reaction is that you "thought the tale somewhat interesting--especially the last few days of Crowhurst's life--but... the tears spent for the rotting hulk were either misspent or overdone," then say that. Don't say "I'm sorry. This is news, why?" Because that just makes you sound like an asshat.
posted by languagehat at 6:05 AM on March 19, 2005

to languagehat, thanks for the tips and your points are well taken. I erred, and I wholly admit it.

to the others who used my n00b to point out their arrogance while simultaneously demonstrating absence of original thought (you know who you are): feh!
posted by beelzbubba at 6:42 AM on March 19, 2005