Original subtitles

RON WINSPEAR:

We are all human beings,

and we have dreams.

This voyage is Don's.

For him,

it was the adventure.

There may have been an element

he wanted fame and glory.

He wasn't averse

to taking risks.

(SQUAWKING)

But, when you're alone,

just you

and the ocean,

it's the whole

of your universe.

It's totally indifferent.

It's there

waiting for you.

If you make a slip,

then imagination

is the danger.

It's no longer about heroes

and adventures at sea.

It's about isolation

and the delicate mechanism

of the mind.

(INDISTINCT RADIO

TRANSMISSIONS)

(CROWD CHEERING)

TED HYNDS: It was this

new Elizabethan age.

It was the Beatles.

It was sexual freedom,

freedom of the seas.

It caught the imagination.

ANNOUNCER: Francis Chichester

aboard Gipsy Moth IV

is now in sight of home.

He's barely 15 miles

from Plymouth,

at the end of his epic

round-the-world voyage.

Thousands of people

have been pouring

into the city.

They're waiting

for their first glimpse

of a man who set out

nine months

and 33,000 miles ago.

HYNDS: There were signs,

there was noise.

It was mayhem.

You stood and watched

and let it wash over you.

Chichester had done

a single-handed

circumnavigation

and brought his vessel

back home.

Stirring stuff,

boys-only stuff.

(CROWD CHEERING)

Chichester had

started the ball rolling.

People were looking for

"What was the new challenge?

What's the next frontier?"

ROBIN KNOX-JOHNSTON:

Chichester stopped halfway.

He pulled into Australia

and did quite-serious refits.

I thought, "That's it.

One thing left to be done,

"go around the world,

single-handed, but nonstop."

HYNDS: The general public

got into the spirit of it,

and newspapers as well.

And of course

The Sunday Times

came up with the idea

of a nonstop race

around the world.

DONALD KERR: There could be

no greater challenge.

The first part,

down to the South Atlantic,

was fairly kind,

but then your

troubles started.

Once you rounded

the Cape of Good Hope,

you were into the Roaring 40s,

that endless band

of storms that

circled the world.

Then, thousands

of miles later,

you pass south

of Australia,

New Zealand, and across

the rest of the Pacific,

to Cape Horn.

The seas became narrow there,

and as they fall together,

they grew wilder.

Then up past

the Falkland Islands,

cross the equator,

back into the North Atlantic,

and you were

on your way home.

TILDA SWINTON:

In the spring of 1968,

some of the world's most

experienced sailors

began to gather

in the ports of Britain.

They were stepping forward

as contenders

in the greatest

endurance test of all time.

KERR: This wasn't a race

in the normal sense

of the word.

You could leave

whenever you liked,

but you had to leave

before October the 31st,

to avoid the really severe

winter weather at Cape Horn.

The first man to do it

would get the Golden Globe.

The boat that

went round fastest

would get the big prize

of 5,000 pounds.

KNOX-JOHNSTON: This was

something that a human

hadn't yet attempted to do.

First of all,

we didn't know if

a boat could take it.

Secondly, there was

considerable doubt

if a human could take it.

Psychiatrists said

that a human would go mad

if they tried to do it.

We're talking about

10 months of loneliness.

But the more people

told me it wasn't possible

and I couldn't do it,

the more I was convinced

l could do it.

The one I thought

would prove real competition

was Bernard Moitessier.

He was highly experienced.

(FRANCOISE MOITESSIER

DE CAZALET SPEAKING FRENCH)

(GULLS SQUAWKING)

SWINTON:

The French adventurer,

Bernard Moitessier,

and the British Merchant

Marine Captain,

Robin Knox-Johnston,

were among nine men announced

in the final line-up.

Each knew the winners

would earn their place

in history.

HYNDS: They were

proper seamen,

experienced sailors,

and then,

there was the mystery man,

Don Crowhurst.

REPORTER: What sort of

attitude of mind

does a single-handed

sailor have to have?

I think one's psychology

has to be fairly stable

and one has to be

constantly aware

of the risks

one is running,

which...

(HORN PULLS)

need not necessarily

be much greater.

(MAN CHATTERING)

MAN 1: One hundred-ton truck

goes by.

MAN 1: I gotta run off

any second.

MAN 2: All right.

I just thought,

"It's too enormous to

take on something like that"

I didn't give it

some serious thought.

But there is a moment

when an opportunity arises,

and if you don't grasp it,

that's it.

The first time I saw him,

we were at a party

at my flat.

I thought

what a wonderfully warm,

vigorous and lively

person he was.

I had a red dress on,

and he immediately said,

"Who's husband

did you arrive with?"

He started

telling my fortune,

and he said,

"You're going to marry

an impossible man,

"but you're going to

be greatly loved."

That was a ploy,

I'm sure.

He may have used it

with several others.

But it worked.

Don started his own

small electronics firm

making navigational aides.

They were very,

very slow-selling,

but we were

able to eat from it.

It didn't bother us

very much that

we couldn't have

a very exotic life.

But really,

we were skint,

as it were.

SIMON CROWHURST:

Things were difficult and

the business was struggling.

My father was at

a stage of his life where

he needed to take on

a challenge that would show

the skills that he had

and the abilities that he had,

which he had somehow

felt frustrated, unable to

show in his business.

My father had grown up

with the Kipling stories

of adventure

and of heroes

overcoming challenges.

Chichester had achieved

something on a heroic scale

and was recognized for it.

He had performed

a tremendous feat

that everybody

could see and admire.

In a sense,

my father wanted to

take on that role

and take on that persona.

This was the greatest

challenge possible.

It grabbed my father,

made him, almost compelled him

to take part.

CLARE: He asked me

how I felt about it,

and I said, "Well,

if you can raise the money,

l think you deserve it."

I didn't think he would

raise the money,

but all of a sudden

the thing took on

its own momentum.

KERR: Many of the competitors

didn't have that long

to get a boat ready.

But Crowhurst was

starting from scratch.

WINSPEAR:

Don chose a trimaran.

He started off

purely concentrating

on the idea that

a multi-hull was fast

and that he could win.

The idea was he could win.

KERR: His head

was full of ideas,

advanced technology,

what he could do "if."

This was part of his

great visionary dream, really.

SIMON: It was

going to be an innovative

and advanced vessel,

equipped with all

the latest electronic devices

that would make it better,

would make it safer

and would enable him

to sail faster.

WINSPEAR: That was the idea.

And then Don went off

to find some money.

KERR: Donald had tried

a number of careers,

but they had come to nothing,

and he wanted more.

He believed in himself.

He was inventive,

he had real brains,

he had a great deal

of charm.

...sort of blown up...

It's all right.

No, I don't mind. I wish

you the very best of luck.

He'd read avidly of these

long-distance exploits,

and he could talk the talk.

The nearest you get to

a transatlantic route

is the southern...

All he needed was someone

to put up the money,

and he carried along

an entrepreneur,

caravan-dealer,

Stanley Best.

It really was

an exciting venture,

and I'm not

an adventurous person,

so far as I'm concerned.

But it was interesting,

compelling, to join in.

KERR: But the paddles of

sponsorship are enormous.

Stanley Best knew nothing

about sailing,

but as a hard-headed

businessman

he wanted a contract.

SIMON: Stanley Best

made my father

sign an agreement.

If he dropped out

before the race began

or dropped out

early on in the race,

he would be forced

to buy the boat back.

In effect, my father

would be bankrupt.

The house we lived in

would have to be sold.

He was gambling everything.

He had staked everything

on being successful

in the race.

Everything depended on it.

SWINTON: As the construction

of Crowhurst's

revolutionary boat began,

his rivals, one by one,

were setting sail.

With the prize

for the fastest voyage

as well as

the first man home,

the men were free

to leave at any time,

so long as they sailed

by the race deadline,

October the 31st.

KNOX-JOHNSTON:

l think there were some

similarities between us

and astronauts.

People were just beginning

to go round the moon

at that time,

in fact the first trip

around the moon.

There was a lot of interest

in what happened to people

when they're suddenly

shoved up clear of the earth.

And I suppose

they looked upon us

the same way.

You know, we're basically

in a small capsule,

we're setting off

to go round the world.

It's extremely dangerous.

Anyone who goes to sea

and says they don't

feel fear is a liar.

Of course you're frightened.

(FRANCOISE SPEAKING FRENCH)

BERNARD MOITESSIER:

When I left Plymouth,

Francoise was onboard

the launch following me.

She was not very happy

with that.

It's always a case

of having to sacrifice

one thing for another.

You have to choose

between your life

and a woman,

and it's got to be

your own life, hasn't it?

Without hesitation.

(FRANCOISE SPEAKING FRENCH)

BERNARD: Around the world

without stopping,

single-handed,

it's an enormous challenge.

It's incredibly demanding.

No one had done it before.

Anyone who tries it

just for the money

or the prestige

is going to

break his neck.

There was this

extraordinary pretty ribbon

that I had to pull.

And it would swing

the bottle into the hull.

(CROWD APPLAUDING)

It had to be

smashed by hand.

And of course, that's got

all sorts of connotations

in sailing circles.

But Donald

wanted this thing.

He wanted to have a go.

I thought, "Well,

if anybody has a chance,

"he has a chance

because he is so innovative

"he'll do it."

HYNDS: This was

a classic tale of

English derring-do

on a shoestring,

the homegrown British hero.

There will be TV deals,

there will be newspaper deals.

I mean, it's sort of that

feeding frenzy start.

Rodney, my boss,

was a businessman

as well as a journalist.

He was a Dickensian character,

the Artful Dodger,

perhaps even a Fagin.

He immediately

saw the potential

to make a lot of money.

RODNEY HALLWORTH:

A press agent's job is

to get hold of the package,

which could be

as dull as an old tin box.

Many people who do

great things are often,

as personalities,

rather dull.

So you got to dress it up

a bit Christmassy,

so that it appears attractive.

Donald decided originally

to start down beyond Penzance.

But here in Teignmouth,

we have a fairly

active publicity setup,

and we've persuaded him

to come 150 miles backwards

to start here and enjoy

the delights of Teignmouth.

All the hoteliers

immediately saw the potential,

publicity-wise.

SWINTON:

Crowhurst's journey

to Teignmouth

was the first outing

for his revolutionary boat.

It should have taken

three days to get there.

It took two weeks.

HYNDS:

It was pretty embarrassing.

We'd been promoting Crowhurst

as "the dark horse

of the sea."

We initially thought

that this was a man

who had made

transatlantic voyages.

He wasn't.

He'd messed about in boats,

but he was almost

a weekend sailor.

But everyone loved the idea

of this boy's own hero.

We wanted him to succeed.

The public,

the town of Teignmouth,

and Fleet Street

wanted this to work.

SWINTON: But Crowhurst was now

dangerously behind schedule.

All but one of

the other sailors

were underway.

He'd lost any chance

of winning the trophy

for first man home.

And to win the

5,000 pound cash prize,

he'd have to sail

the world faster

than any of the racers

ahead of him,

through a southern ocean

that was already

claiming casualties.

KERR: Chay Blyth

and John Ridgway

had been knocked out

of the race.

Big seas had seen them off.

It was the first inkling

that this was not

just an adventure,

but a very dangerous

undertaking.

WINSPEAR: Don was showing

a lot of courage.

He was well aware

of the risks.

But he felt

he was capable of...

Of getting through it.

KERR: Here now was

a publicity machine

at full blast.

I was there

as a journalist.

I was producing a film.

I could see that

the schedule was tight,

and when I got

to Teignmouth,

it was chaos,

total chaos.

REPORTER: It took far longer

for you to come around

from the east coast

than you had

originally planned.

What sort of pressures

has this put on you

as a result?

Oh, well,

it's a week less.

It means less time,

you know.

The schedule

is that much tighter.

Telephone!

Telephone!

CLARE: I thought,

"There's chaos here, you know,

and that's worrying."

MAN: Can you bring the dinghy

around this side, Donald?

CLARE: The BBC people

were watching it.

You could see that

they saw that this

wasn't how it should be.

KERR: I told

the cameraman,

"This is a voyage

that's not gonna happen.

It's not gonna succeed.

"Just film what is

really happening.

Film the chaos of it all."

Which he did.

With three

or four days to go,

there was so much

still to be done

by so many different people

who got in each other's way.

He had lost track

of what was happening

on his boat.

Of course you realize

I've got to have

the equipment tonight.

It won't be on the boat

if it's not put on tonight.

At that stage, people were

beginning to say to him,

"Are you sure

everything's all right?"

"Have you really considered

what you're doing?"

KERR: He was getting more

and more exhausted

and more rattled.

He was bright and cheerful

for the interviews,

but the minute

the cameras stopped

his face dropped.

REPORTER: 'Cause they sense

that it's a personal story.

And if I can ask you,

do you feel you're

up against it

with the time limit?

I don't think

there are too many things

that are of any importance

that remain undone.

Um...

Most of it

is taken care of.

And I think that...

I'm not lacking in

any great...respects.

You know,

there's nothing

essential that's missing.

(SEAGULLS SQUAWKING)

KERR: The last day

in Teignmouth,

Clare and I took him off

for a walk along the seafront.

He just sat there,

withdrawn and trembling,

saying, "It isn't ready.

The boat isn't ready."

And as we walked back

we met Stanley Best,

the sponsor,

and Rodney Hallworth,

who stood to make

a lot of money

if he succeeded

and nothing if he failed.

So when he told them

he couldn't go,

the boat wasn't ready,

they said, "Donald, tomorrow

it's October the 31st,

the very last day to go.

"You have to go."

What do you think of

the weather tomorrow?

I don't know.

I would think

at this time of year

the southwestern winds...

Yes, very nice.

...it will be.

KERR: It was unstoppable.

There was so much at stake.

How could he say,

"I can't go?"

At the least,

he faced ridicule

and embarrassment.

What would he be,

in his own eyes,

if he didn't go?

(STATIC ON RADIO)

MAN 1 ON RADIO: Now we turn

to Teignmouth in South Devon,

on the last day on which

Donald Crowhurst could start

on his round-the-world voyage.

The rules of

The Sunday Times race

said that all competitors

must have started

by the end of October.

And at 3:00 this afternoon,

after innumerable delays,

start Mr. Crowhurst did.

How many

can you manage?

What about...

DONALD: The kids?

Yeah, all right.

We're terribly short of time.

The pilot is waiting.

I'm awfully sorry.

(APPLAUSE)

SIMON: I remember going on

a small rowboat with

my brothers and my sister,

and my father

kissing us goodbye.

It wasn't

a feeling of sadness

so much as excitement.

But I suppose there

was a feeling also

at the back of my mind,

"Well, you don't quite know

what's going to happen next."

CLARE: The children

were oblivious to the danger,

without any doubt.

And it's just as well,

really.

(CROWD APPLAUDING)

(CROWD CHEERING)

MAN: Well, she's left

Teignmouth at last.

The 41-foot trimaran,

Teignmouth Electron,

at the helm,

Donald Crowhurst,

this 36-year-old engineer

who even at this last stage

hasn't given up the idea

of recording the fastest time.

Yes, he's got this yellow

one-piece suit on,

and still his tie.

And out here too

is his wife Clare

and four young children.

They're all very small,

chanting, "Bye-bye, Daddy."

Oh, something's

gone wrong out there.

He's taking a tour again.

Something I think has

gone wrong with the sail.

She's being towed back.

Oh, this is a tragedy.

CLARE: The buoyancy bag

at the top of the mast

was fouled.

The sails wouldn't go up.

Yeah...

(PEOPLE CHATTERING)

MAN 2 ON RADIO:

Well, it was a delay

of only two hours.

By 5:00, Mr. Crowhurst's

trimaran was being towed out

a mile from the shore,

and a cannon shot

marked the official start

of his race around the world.

CLARE: All I could see

was this tiny figure

on what seemed to be

a minute boat,

disappearing over the horizon.

KNOX-JOHNSTON:

Nowadays with GPS

you can pinpoint

your position to

within a few feet

on any portion

of the globe.

In the '60s,

that just wasn't the case.

Don Crowhurst sailed

over the horizon

and effectively

into oblivion.

I don't think people

understand what it was like

in those days,

pre-special foods,

pre-weather forecasts,

pre-satellites.

(FRANCOISE SPEAKING FRENCH)

BERNARD: You can't imagine

how intensely I was living,

how good it is

to be on your own.

You climb up

and you look back

at your boat.

There is the sea, the wind,

the sound of the water,

above all, the beauty

of the boat surging forward.

On your own you can discover

who you really are.

SWINTON: Bernard Moitessier

had now been at sea

for two months.

He was sailing faster

than any of his rivals,

averaging speeds

of 120 miles a day,

and closing rapidly

on the race leader,

Robin Knox-Johnston.

Behind them, at the back

of the field of seven men,

was Donald Crowhurst.

The voyage he'd staked

his future on was

finally underway.

DONALD: I've been at sea now

very nearly 14 days.

And I'm on my way

to a rendezvous

with Cape Horn.

That explains

why I'm here,

in the North Atlantic

in the middle of November

making tape recordings

in a small boat.

(INDISTINCT RADIO

TRANSMISSIONS)

KERR: I wanted film

of him at sea

and I wanted his thoughts,

so I got him

a 16-millimeter camera

and a tape recorder.

Like in Teignmouth,

when the camera was on,

he was the bold,

outgoing confident figure.

He was playing the character

of the long-distance sailor.

DONALD: The thing

about single-handing is,

it puts a great deal

of pressure on the man.

It explores his weaknesses

with a penetration

that very few

other occupations can manage.

WINSPEAR: Don was

always totally positive

and confident,

on the surface.

But the log revealed

a totally different story.

DONALD: "November 5th,

Tuesday.

"Rachael's birthday.

"Happy birthday, Rachael.

"Hell of a morning

for me, though.

"I was feeling pleased

with myself

"when I noticed bubbles

were blowing out of

the port forward hatch.

"All the evidence was

that the compartment

was full of water.

"November 7th,

Thursday.

"Saw that more screws

had fallen out of

the self-steering gear.

"That's four gone now.

"The cockpit hatch

has been leaking,

"and it's flooded

the engine compartment

and electrics.

"This bloody boat is

just falling to pieces."

KERR: There were

a lot of hatches

on these outer hulls,

and they were all leaking.

While he was in

these calm waters,

he could walk out

to them and bail them out

with a bucket.

But once he got

into the southern ocean

the boat would be

swept by waves.

There was no way

he could empty them.

The hulls would fill

and he would drown.

DONALD: "November 15th.

"Racked by

the growing awareness

"that I must soon decide

whether or not I can go on

"in the face

of the actual situation."

WINSPEAR: I think

doubt started to set in

(ELECTRONIC BEEPING)

when reality started

to set in.

And that reality

wasn't quite as perfect

as the idea.

This is why

ideas are dangerous.

DONALD: "As the boat stands,

in its present condition

"my chances of survival

would not, I think,

be better than 50-50."

WINSPEAR: He knew

the risk of going into

the southern ocean

was very,

very high indeed.

SWINTON: Crowhurst was

now heading into that ocean

in a leaking boat

he had to bail by hand.

And confirmation of

just how dangerous

those seas could be

came later

that November.

KNOX-JOHNSTON:

I'd heard about

Ridgway and Blyth.

Next news I got

was off New Zealand.

And I learned about

King and Fougeron.

KERR: Bill King

got turned over by

a big wave off South Africa

and lost his mast.

There was the Italian.

The stress made him so ill,

he had a stomach ulcer.

There was another

French sailor.

He had 27 days

of most appalling weather,

and he packed it in.

HYNDS: It came down

to the last four,

Tetley, Knox-Johnston,

Moitessier

and Don Crowhurst.

Only four.

SWINTON: The odds

were shortening on Crowhurst

all the time.

But his progress

was painfully slow.

(STATIC ON RADIO)

His only communication with

land

was through occasional

telephone calls patched

via radio operators

and through

Morse code cables,

and the cables

cataloged the problems.

Crowhurst was averaging

barely 60 miles a day,

half of the speed

of Moitessier,

in a boat that would not

stay afloat in heavy seas.

WINSPEAR:

The pressure was building.

If Don went forward,

he was committing suicide.

But the financial situation

was desperate.

If he came back,

he was ruined.

DONALD: "Time and money.

"If one considers time only,

"the thing to do

is turn back now.

"But money,

"this area is

the most worrying.

"If I stop, I will disappoint

a lot of people,

"Stanley Best,

most important,

"Rodney Hallworth,

the folks at Teignmouth.

"In the final analysis,

if the whole thing

goes quite sour,

"the business bankrupt

and the house sold,

"l would have Clare

and the children still.

"What a bloody awful decision,

to chuck it in at this stage.

"What a bloody

awful decision."

SIMON: This was the point

in mid-November

at which his instincts

should have told him

that it was right to give up

and he should come back to us.

But,

somehow he couldn't

bring himself to do that.

CLARE: Donald was

brought up in British India.

Home was wonderful,

the house

full of animals.

He loved

his father dearly.

But I think he had quite

an isolated childhood.

There were always

people around,

but he was isolated.

His mother regarded

England as El Dorado,

and they came back and found

they didn't like it at all.

They had little more

than 5,000 pounds

and they thought they'd be

able to live off that

for a while.

But as things turned out,

the money went in weeks

and they literally found

themselves destitute.

One day his father

just keeled over

with a heart attack

and that was it.

Donald was about 15.

SIMON: He had seen

the consequences of

financial disaster

on his own family.

He knew what the implications

might be for us.

He would have had

a real emotional

gut reaction

to do whatever

he possibly could

to avoid that.

Maybe he could find

a way out of this situation.

WINSPEAR:

Every time he woke up,

it was the same problem.

He got no peace.

He couldn't

walk away from it.

If he came back,

he was ruined.

If he went forward,

he was dead.

Is there a third option?

(STATIC ON RADIO)

There was a third option.

A very interesting

third option.

KERR: Suddenly,

everything changed.

Now we were all excited.

Here was a man

who was going so slowly,

and now he was

setting record speeds.

People who had been cynical,

people who had

been disinterested

felt differently now.

SIMON: We just had this

enormous confidence

in my father

that he could do

what he set out to achieve.

And then suddenly,

there he was,

and it was really

coming true.

This is vindication

on a grand scale.

243 miles in one day,

the new sailing record.

And of course, Rodney is,

"Yes, I've always

believed in my boy,"

all that sort of stuff.

KERR:

Rodney Hallworth is a good

Fleet Street journalist,

"Never let the facts get

in the way of a good story."

He would add a little color

and add quite a distance

to the records

Crowhurst was setting.

So Donald was

passing messages

to Rodney,

and Rodney was

embellishing them

for Fleet Street.

SWINTON: In the middle

of December,

a month and a half

into his journey,

Crowhurst's reported position

advanced rapidly towards

the southern ocean.

Suddenly it seemed

that Donald Crowhurst

was a contender in the contest

for the fastest voyage.

Nigel Tetley,

Bernard Moitessier,

and Robin Knox-Johnston

were now his only

remaining rivals.

INTERVIEWER: I wonder

what you'll do when

the voyage is over?

Hot bath.

INTERVIEWER: Anything else?

Steak, egg and chips

with new-boiled potatoes,

fresh peas, a beautiful,

juicy, sirloin steak.

But first thing,

a pint of English beer.

Christ, I miss English beer.

WINSPEAR:

I think it might have

started as a game.

Knowing Don,

he had a playful nature,

(INDISTINCT

RADIO TRANSMISSIONS)

and game playing

would come naturally to him.

He started playing games.

CLARE: Maybe he just thought,

"Right, give them some

boost back home.

"I'll lift their spirits,

"and they'll all think

something's happening here."

(ALL CHEERING)

(FILTERED CHEERING)

SIMON: My father

was starting to claim

that he had sailed further

than he actually had.

He took the decision

to begin charting

his actual positions

in a second logbook.

SWINTON: Crowhurst knew

the race judges

might ask to see

the logbook of any sailor

who made it home.

So in this second log,

he began to keep

a secret record

of his true journey,

while gradually the cables

he sent back to London

mapped out the story

of a fake journey.

(INDISTINCT RADIO

TRANSMISSIONS)

WINSPEAR: I suspect

that he might have said,

"Well, let's carry on a bit,

"let a little water

pass under the bridge."

(SIGHING)

And then the game develops.

SWINTON: Crowhurst may

only have intended to

exaggerate his progress

before retiring from the race

with a little pride restored.

But that first decision

became a trap of its own.

SIMON: The option

of pulling out of the race

became even more formidable.

Because the difference

between where people

thought my father was

and where he actually was

became greater and greater.

So to pull in at a port

would bring home the fact that

he was not at all

where he was

supposed to be,

that he was much,

much further behind.

WINSPEAR: That's where

he got trapped, wasn't it?

He'd made a mistake.

Whatever fears he had,

he had to go through with it.

He couldn't go back.

He couldn't go home.

SIMON: Around Christmastime,

my father managed

to get through on

the telephone to my mother.

He couldn't tell her

the problems that

he was facing.

She thought

he was doing well,

and that her job was

to convince him

that she was coping.

They were trying to

protect each other.

We tried to have

a good Christmas,

but there was still

a great sense of

something missing.

CLARE: I remember one of

the children sitting on

the staircase crying

that he wanted his daddy.

And that

l think brought it home to me

what a dreadful thing

we had done.

DONALD ON TAPE:

There is a spirituality

about this place,

and about the time,

Christmas,

that does tend to make one

a little bit melancholy.

And one thinks

of one's friends and family,

and you know that

they're thinking of you.

And the sense

of separation

is somehow increased

by the loneliness.

MAN: What about the children?

How are they reacting?

CLARE: They're all right.

They're healthy enough

about it.

One of them has nightmares,

and this is a bit worrying.

He walks in his sleep

and he shouts

and he sees his father.

And because he can't,

he sees him,

but he can't

communicate with him,

and he can't feel the warmth

of his personality about,

he worries

about this, of course.

But the others are

very blase about it,

and they think of

"Daddy's going to win

the Golden Globe," you know.

SWINTON:

Early in the new year,

a newspaper photographed

Clare with the wives

of Tetley and Moitessier.

They were christened

"The Sea Widows."

For weeks now,

Crowhurst's publicity agents

had tried to report

news of his progress.

But after the cable claiming

the world's speed record,

his messages were rare

and hard to decipher.

There were many

telegrams from him

where we couldn't

put out a story

because even stretching

our imaginations,

we couldn't decipher,

we couldn't figure out

what he was talking about.

They were cryptic

beyond belief.

One came through,

"Off Brazil."

Well, where off Brazil?

Sometime in the middle

of January, I think

it was the 18th or the 19th,

we got a message saying

he was having trouble

and, in future,

we would not be receiving

any messages from him.

Um...

Panic.

Rodney was facing

the prospect of

no information

at a crucial stage

in the race.

SWINTON: Crowhurst's

last cable claimed

he was 500 miles

into the southern ocean,

and closing on Tetley.

Ahead of them,

Moitessier and Knox-Johnston

were approaching the most

dangerous part of the course,

the last stretch

of the southern ocean

before Cape Horn.

KNOX-JOHNSTON: Cape Horn

becomes fixed in your mind.

"Once I'm round Cape Horn,

l can turn north.

"I can get out of this

bastard of a place."

'Cause it is

a bastard of a place.

Imagine yourself

in something about

the size of a small truck,

and coming towards you

is a 12-story high building.

That is the size

of the waves down there.

BERNARD: A great cape

has a soul

with very soft,

very violent shadows

and colors.

A soul as smooth

as a child's,

as hard as a criminal's.

And that is why we go.

One forgets everything,

seeing only the play

of the boat with the sea,

the play of the sea

around the boat,

leaving aside everything

not essential to that game.

One has to be careful, though,

not to go further

than necessary

to the depths of the game.

And that is the hard part,

not going too far.

DONALD: You look out

on this wild landscape

stretching away as far

as the eye can see,

streaks of spume

blown down the face

of these immense waves,

and froth-white foam

sending a great flurry

of spray and heavy water

all over everything.

And it's all

tremendously exciting,

and a tremendous

challenge, of course.

SWINTON: Crowhurst was

drifting off the coast

of South America,

preparing a record

of his false journey,

film and audiotapes

that would be broadcast

on his return.

(CAMERA WHIRRING)

In two months' time,

the race route would

bring the other sailors

around Cape Horn

and past him.

At that point,

he could slip in beside them,

and sail for home.

Until then,

he could only wait.

He'd stopped

all radio communication

to avoid detection.

His isolation was complete.

WINSPEAR: There you are,

you're alone on your boat,

just you

and the ocean.

It's the whole

of your universe,

it stretches

to the horizon.

It's totally indifferent.

And it just accentuates

the isolation.

From that moment,

the time bomb was ticking.

He had no longer

one enemy,

which was the sea,

he had himself,

this problem of imagination

and the delicate mechanism

of the mind.

(STATIC ON RADIO)

DONALD: Keeping a sort

of watch on sails by night.

Alone.

The rigging sighs

a sigh of cosmic sorrow

for weeping doves

that die maybe tomorrow.

On 12.7

by 10-to-the-five

irradiated olive trees.

A sigh to fill

man's soul with melancholy.

Waves, sweep away

my melancholy.

SWINTON: Then in

the last week of February,

Crowhurst discovered

he had another problem.

KERR: His float splits.

He needs help.

But he's not

where he's supposed to be.

He's not in

the southern ocean.

He's just off

the coast of Brazil.

This is the trap he's in.

SWINTON: If Crowhurst

broke radio silence

to call for help,

his radio transmitter

would give away

his true position.

For seven weeks now,

his family had heard nothing.

SIMON: It just became

more and more apparent

that something

should have been heard by now,

and it hadn't been.

And people began to fear

for the worst.

CLARE: You think,

"Well, I didn't stop him

and I should have done."

The last night at Teignmouth,

he did weep for a long time

in our bedroom.

I knew that it would be

very easy to say,

you know, "Don't go."

That's the awful thing,

you know? You know

you could stop it,

and yet you know

that it could be

disastrous if you did.

It's a bit like children.

You know that if you

squeeze them too tight,

they'll do

the exact opposite.

But you can't

ever know at the time

which road is going to be

the right one.

I remember

in Teignmouth,

shortly before

my father set sail,

listening in the hotel

to the sound of a gale.

(CHOKING)

I hadn't realized before,

just how dangerous

the sea could be.

And I remember lying

in my bed in the hotel,

and listening

to these huge winds

and great waves crashing,

and thinking,

"That's the sort of weather

that he's going to have to be

"coping with in his boat."

DONALD: "March 4th.

Immediate problems.

"One, establish

visual contact

"Rio Salado entrance,

30 miles.

"Two, repair float.

"No proper materials,

large sheet ply,

screws, glue.

"Also require oats, meths,

rice, vindaloo paste."

(SANTIAGO FRANCHESSI

SPEAKING SPANISH)

CLARE: He knew what it was

like to come in contact

with people again.

And they responded

to him with warmth.

And yet, why he didn't

telephone home

is an overwhelming question.

He must have known

we were desperate for news,

but he didn't.

He didn't communicate

at that stage,

which is, to me,

quite a shattering blow.

WINSPEAR: I think

if you were in

the real world,

at that stage you would have

picked up the telephone

and said, "Look,

I've had to stop."

Because landing

was a flagrant act for

disqualifying himself

from the race.

He was slowly but surely

getting himself exposed.

He had made

his first mistake.

That mistake was very likely

to be revealed,

particularly if

the coastguards had

noted his presence.

(FRANCHESSI SPEAKING SPANISH)

WINSPEAR:

Why didn't he stop then?

Why did he

go back out to sea?

I can only assume

he was half-in and half-out

of the real world

at this stage.

SWINTON: As Crowhurst

sailed away from land,

the other sailors were

coming round the Horn

and racing north

for Europe and home.

Bernard Moitessier

had now been alone at sea

for nearly six months,

and the isolation

was beginning to

affect him profoundly.

BERNARD: After Cape Horn,

l felt I knew I didn't want

to come back.

You see, it didn't

seem worth it.

I could feel it.

I didn't say so to anyone.

I didn't dare to.

I hardly dared

admit it to myself.

(FRANCOISE SPEAKING FRENCH)

BERNARD: Around the world

without stopping,

eight months alone,

completely alone,

with all that that entails,

it had never been

done before.

Everything revolved around

that word, "alone."

The nervous tension,

the food, the exhaustion,

my whole outlook.

Things which mattered

at the start

didn't matter at all.

The rules of the game

had changed now.

The rules within me

had changed.

DONALD ON TAPE:

♪ I'm drunk, you circum

♪ You silly old circum

♪ You're as drunk as

a circumnavigator can be! ♪

(LAUGHING)

Hey, I'll tell you something.

I think the director-general

of the BBC

is probably slipping

some buckshot into his

12 ball, as it were.

Oh, why should I worry?

(CHUCKLING)

He's given

this lunatic Crowhurst

a tape recorder, yeah.

And 74,000 miles of tape.

What can he do?

He's got to deliver

a load of gibberish

in order to fill up

the space, matey.

Do you see?

But I think I'll just have

another little swig

of this bottle here.

(SIGHS CONTENTEDLY)

SWINTON: For Crowhurst,

after four months,

the waiting was

coming to an end.

And like Moitessier,

the prospect of his return

was troubling him.

Within days, the route

of his fake voyage

would come past

his actual position.

He had to plan

how and where

to rejoin the race,

when to break

radio silence.

Above all, he had to prepare

the written evidence

of a circumnavigation.

KERR: Once he'd

arrived successfully,

the panel of judges

would want to see

his logbooks.

They would want proof

that he had been

round the world.

He would have to

fake his position

for every day

he was supposed to be

in the southern ocean.

That was an amazingly

difficult thing to do.

WINSPEAR: That would create

enormous pressure.

He might think, "Well,

l don't think I can

go through with it."

By this stage,

l think Don

genuinely felt

that winning the race

wasn't part of the plot.

KERR: All he wanted really

was to come in quietly

as the man who came fourth.

Nobody wants to see

their logbooks,

not too much scrutiny.

The interest in them

wouldn't last long.

WINSPEAR: Don was very much

at risk in his game here.

But he just wanted

to go back.

He was coming home.

(RADIO BEEPING)

(RADIO STATIC)

HYNDS: One morning,

Rodney calls into

the office

and said,

"Ah, he's back!"

I said,

"Oh, who's back?"

And it was,

"Donald Crowhurst is back."

There's a phone call

from Portishead

saying Crowhurst

is back on the air.

CLARE: Rodney Hallworth

phoned me very early

one morning.

He said, "My face

is covered in shaving cream,

"but I've had a message

from Donald saying

he's safe and well

"and on his way home."

YOUNG CLARE:

I... I don't know...

I just don't know what to do.

Quite frankly,

I'm absolutely stunned.

I thought that when I heard,

I would go absolutely crazy

and I would go off and

buy lots of champagne

and, you know,

do all sorts of mad things.

But at the moment,

l think I just want to

keep the news a bit

to myself

and sort of absorb it

before I completely

lose my head.

(CHUCKLING)

CLARE: The feeling that

the whole world was different

didn't matter,

there wasn't enough money

for this or that, you know.

Everything was different

all of a sudden.

YOUNG CLARE: Then I picked up

the telephone to tell a friend

and suddenly I was

absolutely overwhelmed.

I couldn't... I couldn't talk

for a long time.

SIMON: It was as if a switch

had been thrown.

Suddenly this elation.

Not only was he

alive and well,

but he was actually in...

Still very much

in the competition.

HYNDS: Our faith

is deserved.

He's back with us.

SWINTON: Crowhurst

turned for home,

slipping in behind

Nigel Tetley,

who'd passed just 100 miles

to the east of him.

Everyone believe Moitessier

was ahead of them,

chasing Robin Knox-Johnston

to the finish,

until a message

arrived in Paris.

(FRANCOISE SPEAKING FRENCH)

SWINTON: After seven months

at sea and barely six weeks

from home,

Moitessier abandoned the race

and turned south again.

He was sailing on

around the world

a second time.

BERNARD: I do not know

how to explain to Francoise

and the children

my need to continue

towards the Pacific,

to be at peace.

I know I am right.

I feel it deeply.

I know exactly

where I am going.

How could they

understand that?

It is so simple.

But it can't be

explained in words.

The pictures of my children

blur before my eyes,

though God knows

l love them.

(FRANCOISE SPEAKING FRENCH)

(HELICOPTER WHIRRING)

(CROWD CHEERING)

MAN ON RADIO:

Morning of Tuesday,

April 22nd.

Plymouth awaits the arrival

of Robin Knox-Johnston

aboard his

32-foot ketch, Suhaili,

now only a few miles

away from the finish

where he'll become

the first man

to have sailed

around the world

on his own, nonstop,

a journey which has

lasted 312 days.

The crowds now pouring in

all around the Cornwall Coast.

Binoculars

and telescopes are out.

As his bows cross the line,

a cannon should be fired,

and the voyage will be over.

There he is.

Look at the smile.

He really is enjoying this.

This is tremendous.

(CANNON FIRES IN DISTANCE)

And the cannon is gone,

and Robin Knox-Johnston

and Suhaili

have sailed nonstop

around the world.

KNOX-JOHNSTON: It was all

a bit of a dream.

You look at

all these people and say,

"I've done this,

this thing that people said

you couldn't do.

"I've done this now."

I don't have to come yell,

scream, shout about it.

It's inside.

(CROWDS CHEERING)

MAN ON RADIO:

Robin Knox-Johnston

came out onto the balcony

to acknowledge the cheer.

He's the first ever

to round the world

alone nonstop.

He's averaged

92 miles a day

on this marathon voyage.

It's not enough to win him

the cash prize

for the fastest time,

because Nigel Tetley

and Donald Crowhurst

are still battling it out

in the Atlantic.

SWINTON: All eyes now

turned to the contest

for the fastest voyage.

Either Nigel Tetley

or Donald Crowhurst

was about to become

the most famous man

in Britain.

WINSPEAR: Right,

the game playing is over,

we're back

to real life now.

How are we gonna

match the two?

Not a very

easy thing to do.

Whilst he was out on his own,

that's one thing.

But he has now got to

continue playing

his character.

He's got a role to play

and he mustn't drop a line.

DONALD ON TAPE: I think

my effort will be faster

than Chichester's

and should be quite

fast enough to give me

The Sunday Times race.

(LAUGHS)

So I'm feeling fairly bucked,

fairly chuffed with myself.

SIMON: The whole plan,

in reality, depended on

Tetley coming in first

with the fastest

circumnavigation.

Then his notebooks would

be closely examined,

while Donald Crowhurst's

notebooks

wouldn't need to be

closely examined at all.

He's just a runner-up.

WINSPEAR: He was going strong

and it was looking great.

Then we got the telegram

that there's no chance

of catching Tetley.

We're thinking,

disappointment,

but not devastation.

As far as we're concerned,

our boy has done good.

He's gone through

some of the loneliest,

toughest seas in the world.

Even the most

skeptical folk are saying,

"He has come in good

and fair play to it."

It was bloody marvelous.

And then suddenly,

out of the blue...

Tetley sunk.

CLARE: We heard

Nigel Tetley

had been rescued.

I heard that before

I heard that his boat

had gone down.

WINSPEAR: That finished it,

basically.

He was going to win.

CLARE: Donald was

not a stupid man.

He knew what it would mean.

He couldn't glide

into port and fade away.

He knew that everything

would be scrutinized.

WINSPEAR: There was

going to be a committee

of reception.

What did you think about

when you went round the Horn?

WINSPEAR: Everything

would be verified.

Tell us about some of

the problems that you found

on this voyage?

WINSPEAR: And Don knew

very well

that it would end up

in total humiliation.

Could you do it again?

(ALL LAUGHING)

WINSPEAR: That's not an option

you go through.

And he's running out

of options by now.

(RADIO STATIC)

DONALD: "When I was

five years old,

l knew all about God.

"He was an old man

who would punish me

if I was naughty.

"By the time I was 20,

l decided there was

no reason to expect

"any assistance from God,

"if he existed at all.

"Man was evading

his responsibility

"by constantly looking to God

for assistance.

"The cosmic integral,

"the sum of man,

"adds up to nothing."

SWINTON: In the days

after Tetley's sinking,

Crowhurst repeatedly

tried to get a call

through to Clare.

But his radio transmitter

was failing.

DONALD ON RADIO:

Uh, if you are,

l will come back to...

SIMON: The transmitter failing

at that point was something

that plagued him.

He became almost

obsessed with fixing it.

(BROKEN TRANSMISSION)

He wanted to talk

to my mother.

DONALD ON RADIO:

Mike-Zulu-Uniform-Whiskey

calling GBC-3.

I have heard nothing.

I have heard nothing.

CLARE: I think

he just wanted human contact

that he felt would be

warm and responsive,

whatever he had to say.

DONALD:

Mike-Zulu-Uniform-Whiskey

calling. Mike-Zulu-Uniform...

CLARE: He could have

trusted me,

but there was nothing

he could do.

DONALD ON TAPE: There are

close similarities

between sailing

a small boat and living.

You start off unprepared,

a long journey ahead of you

that you think will never end.

And you go through

a series of triumphs

and disasters.

And suddenly you realize

that what's done is done.

The mistakes you've made

stand forever.

HYNDS: There were

100,000 people

expected to meet him.

100,000 to say hello to you

on your way home.

There was going to be

a razzmatazz.

There would be

triumphal processions.

It was euphoric.

This almost outdoes

Chichester.

HALLWORTH: We're hoping this

will be a great gala affair.

Newspapermen from abroad

have all booked in hotels.

Over 1,000 arrangements

have been made to

welcome him home.

CLARE: It was beginning

to build up to be

really lovely.

It was so close to the end.

Everybody was

in such high spirits.

All of a sudden,

everything was all right.

KERR: His dream,

it was there.

It was going to come true.

Everything a hero could want.

But he knew it was false.

SWINTON: On Tuesday,

the 24th of June,

Crowhurst turned away

from England

and let his boat drift through

the weed-infested waters

of the mid-Atlantic

Sargasso Sea.

Then he opened a logbook

and began to write.

He called it his philosophy.

DONALD: "The explanation

of our troubles

"is that cosmic beings

are playing games with us.

"During his lifetime,

each man plays cosmic chess

against the devil.

"God is playing

with one set of rules,

"and the devil with the other,

exactly opposite set of rules.

"The shameful secret of God.

the trick He used,

"because the truth

would hurt too much,

"is that there is

no good or evil.

"Only truth."

(STATIC)

CLARE: He was in the most

extraordinary feeling

of "I've failed everything."

There was nobody there

to talk to.

He tried to contemplate ways

of dealing with this race

and the money

and the family back home,

and eventually

his brain said,

"Enough. No more."

DONALD: "Do we go on

clinging to the idea

that God made us?

"Or realize that

it lies within us

to make God.

"By learning to manipulate

the space-time continuum,

man will become God

"and disappear from

the physical universe

as we know it."

CLARE: Somehow he just had

given up on his family.

We had vanished from

his mind at that stage.

MAN: Mrs. Crowhurst,

unless he sinks,

your husband is going

to win the 5,000 pounds

for the fastest time.

What will this mean

to you and your family?

Very little change

in our way of living,

l should think.

Um, he won't sink,

l don't think.

DONALD: "I have become

a second-generation

cosmic being.

"I am conceived

in the womb of nature,

in my own mind,

"in the womb

of the universe."

MAN: You've told me that

you haven't had any fears

during the voyage,

but what about

when he returns?

Yes, I am a bit

concerned about

the change of personality.

I think it's inevitable

that he will be

a very different person.

Somebody who faced

every day as though

it was a new danger

and a new feeling

of excitement.

DONALD: "I was forced

to admit that nature

forces on cosmic beings

"the only sin

they are capable of,

"the sin of concealment.

"It is a small sin

for a man to commit,

"but it is a terrible sin

for a cosmic being."

WINSPEAR: He is living

totally in his internal world.

He's invented,

in his mind,

a relationship between him

and the universe.

He's found refuge there,

in a sense.

DONALD: "l am what I am.

And I see the nature

of my offense.

"I will only resign

this game

"if you will agree that

on the next occasion

that this game is played,

"it will be played

according to the rules

"that are devised

by my great God.

"It is finished.

"It is finished.

"It is the mercy.

"11 hours, 15 minutes,

no seconds.

"It is the end of my game.

"The truth

has been revealed

"and it will be done as

my family require me to do it.

"11 hours, 20 minutes,

40 seconds.

"There is no reason

for harmful..."

CLARE: I'd been out

for a walk,

and I came back

with the dog.

My sister was

with the children.

And she said,

"The boat's been found."

Then I became aware

there were several

complete strangers

on the front lawn

and a couple

of police cars.

Just my instant

reaction was,

"Get the children

out of here."

WINSPEAR: You can imagine

the atmosphere,

the feeling of shock.

Clare didn't feel

she had the courage

at the time

to tell the children.

So I went up.

SIMON: My father's boat

had been found,

but he wasn't in it.

It was so different

from the homecoming

that we'd expected.

It was just like,

"This is the wrong story.

This is... This is not what's

supposed to be happening.

"This is, um, it can't be."

SWINTON: A British cargo ship

found Crowhurst's boat

drifting in the mid-Atlantic

700 miles from land.

MAN 1 ON RADIO: A surprise

development tonight

over the missing yachtsman

Donald Crowhurst.

Crowhurst's trimaran,

Teignmouth Electron,

was found drifting

and deserted.

He'd been a competitor

in the Round-the-World

yacht race

organized by

The Sunday Times.

MAN 2 ON RADIO:

The pale blue

weather-beaten trimaran,

which was a certain

winner of the race,

was in good condition.

The mystery of his

disappearance, therefore,

is still inexplicable.

The film and his

tape recordings

may provide other clues,

but for the moment,

this lonely yacht

without her lonely captain

is not giving up

any of her secrets.

SWINTON: When the boat

was brought ashore

in the Caribbean,

Crowhurst's press agent

Rodney Hallworth

was there to meet it.

HALLWORTH: I went into

the captain's cabin,

and I remember saying

to him that, um,

"l don't suppose, Captain,

we'll ever know

"the end of this saga,

this riddle?"

And I thought his face

dropped a little

and he said, "Well, I think

we do, Mr. Hallworth."

And he led me over

to his desk,

he unlocked a drawer

and took out the logs.

We decided there and then

that we would never tell

anybody for the rest

of our lives

what had happened

in the last hours

of Crowhurst's life.

SWINTON: In fact,

Rodney Hallworth

had already sold the logbooks

to a London newspaper.

And piece by piece,

the truth of

Donald Crowhurst's voyage

was uncovered.

CLARE: Rodney Hallworth

stumped through

the front door,

and while I was sort of

staring in amazement

he said, "Donald didn't

sail around the world

and he committed suicide."

And...

I think that is

the most appalling thing

to do to anyone.

I will never forget

those words.

But that was Hallworth.

HYNDS: No one

likes to be conned.

We were sharp newspapermen

and he conned us.

Kippered us.

Hung out like a kipper.

KERR: For me,

it's all one regret.

I never did

speak to Clare again.

I never could face her.

I felt I was party to it.

We were all party to it.

If only I had said,

"Don't go, Donald.

It's crazy."

I should have said that.

SIMON: He made

the wrong decisions.

In a way, he turned

the initial difficulties

into something much worse,

into a disaster for himself

and for the rest of us.

But he was trying

to do the best he could

to get back to us.

And...

That's all he could do,

really.

CLARE: Everything angered me

at that time.

Anger just boiled over.

And I blamed everyone

and everything.

I feel that I failed.

I didn't stop him

from going

and I didn't help him

when he needed it.

But people need to dream.

I think Donald needed that,

and he had a right

to have it.

WINSPEAR: The crowd

criticized him.

The crowd mocked him.

And I didn't want

that to happen.

When somebody

has risked

and failed,

and when somebody

has fallen

from the tightrope

they've been walking on,

somebody has to

pick them up

and give them a burial.

The best thing is that

a friend should do that.

Don wanted to make

a success of his life.

He just wanted to see

a bright future for himself

and his family.

In my mind,

I gave him a hero's

burial.