Donald Crowhurst

...the Walter Mitty sailor who paid the ultimate price!

On October 31, 1968, Donald Crowhurst, a 36-year-old father of four, sailed out of Teignmouth on his 40-foot trimaran, Teignmouth Electron. He had entered the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race to gain publicity for his failing electronics business, believing he could become a seafaring hero like Chichester and win the race to be the first person to sail solo non-stop around the globe. Very early into his voyage he logged: "this bloody boat is just falling to pieces!!!" And so his great deception began, falsifying his position while languishing in the North Atlantic.

Caught in a triple blind. If he dropped out at this stage, not only would his reputation be destroyed but his business would go bankrupt and, perhaps worse of all, he and his family would lose their home. For all these reasons, giving up was not an option.

On June 29, 1969, Donald Crowhurst ended radio transmissions. The last logbook entry is dated 1 July. “It is finished. It is finished. IT IS THE MERCY… I will resign the game.” Teignmouth Electron was found adrift, unoccupied, on 10 July. And now lies decaying on the southwest shore of Cayman Brac.

Knox-Johnston donated his £5,000 for fastest circumnavigation to Donald Crowhurst's widow and children