All language subtitles for Deep Water.2006.1080p.NF.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.x264-monkee

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.

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.

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 merely 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.

Hynds:
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 L5,000.

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 I could do it.

The one I thought would
prove real competition

was Bernard Moitessier.

He was highly experienced.

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.

Interviewer:
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...

Nee... need not necessarily
be much greater.

I just thought, "It's too enormous
to take on something"...

I thought... 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,

I 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.

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 adventure,

and I'm not an adventurous person,
so far as I'm concerned.

But it was interesting,
compelling, to join in.

Kerr: The... 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: I 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.

Bernard Moitessier:
When I left Plymouth,

Françoise 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.

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.

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 L5,000 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.

Interviewer:
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?

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."

Can you bring the dinghy
around this side?

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.

Interviewer: '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...
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.

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.

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?

Radio announcer: Now we turn
to Teignmouth in South Devon,

on the last day in 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.

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
in 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.

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...

Man #2:
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.

Knox-Johnston:
I don't think people understand

what it was like
in those days...

pre-special foods,
pre-weather forecasts,

pre-satellites.

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.

Kerr:
I wanted film of him at sea

and I wanted his thoughts,

so I got him a 16mm 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...

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
to 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 the 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.

His only communication with land

was through occasional
telephone calls

patched by radio operators

and through Morse code cables,

and the cables
catalogued 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,

I 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
a nice little 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 L5,000

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?

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.

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.

Man: I wonder what you'll do
when the voyage is over?

Hot bath.

- Man: 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...

And game playing would
come naturally to him.

He started playing games.

Clare:
Maybe he just thought,

"Right, give them
some boost back home.

Lift their spirits..."

"and they'll all think
something's happening here."

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.

Winspear:
I suspect that he might have said,

"Well, let's carry on a bit,

let a little water
pass under the bridge."

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...

I think brought it home to me

what a dreadful thing
we had done.

Donald: "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 blasé 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,

I 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.

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.

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

as 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

who 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...
in Teignmouth,

shortly before
my father set sail,

listening in the hotel
to the sound of a gale.

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...

mo proper materials...

large sheet ply,

screws, glue;

Also require oats, meths,

rice,
vindaloo paste."

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.

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, I 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.

Bernard: Around the world
without stopping...

eight months alone,
completely alone,

with all that the 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:
♪ I'm drunk, you circum... ♪

♪ You silly old circum... ♪

♪ You're as drunk as
a circumnavigator can be! ♪

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?

Hee-hee!

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?

I think I'll just have
another little swig of this bottle here.

Ahh!

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,
I don't think I can go through with it."

By this stage, I 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 forth.

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.

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
buy lots of champagne

and, you know, do all sorts
of mad things.

But at the moment,
I think I just want to keep the news

a bit to myself
and sort of absorb it

before I... I completely
lose my head.

Clare: The feeling that the whole
world was different...

didn't matter there
wasn't enough money for this or that.

Everything was different
all of a sudden.

Young Clare: Then I... 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.

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 Françoise 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 I love them.

Man:
Morning of Tuesday, April 22nd.

Plymouth awaits the arrival
of Robin Knox-Johnston

aboard his 32' ketch "Suhaili,"

now only a few miles
away from the finish

where he'll become the first man

to sail 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.

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.

Man: 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: "I think my effort will be
faster than Chichester's

and should be quite fast enough to give
me 'The Sunday Times' race."

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:
I 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?

Everything would be verified.

Tell us about some of the problems
that you found on this voyage?

And Don knew very well

that it would end up
in total humiliation.

Could you do it again?

That's not an option
you go through.

And he's running out
of options by now.

Donald:
"When I was five years old,

I knew all about God.

He was an old man

who would punish me
if I was naughty.

By the time I was 20,

I 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:
If you are, I will come back to...

Simon:
The transmitter failing at that point

was something that plagued him.

He became almost
obsessed with fixing it.

He wanted to talk to my mother.

Donald:
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:
"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
triumphant 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, 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."

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 L5,000

for the fastest time.

What will this mean
to you and your family?

Very little change
in our way of living, I should think.

He won't sink, I 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:
"I 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 to them.

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...
it can't be."

Swinton: A British cargo ship
found Crowhurst's boat

drifting in
the mid-Atlantic

700 miles from land.

Man:
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:
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...

"I 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.

I felt 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.