After weeks of relatively slow progress in the Golden Globe yacht race, Crowhurst radioed in his position saying that he had covered 391 kilometres in a single day – a new world record. The announcement made front page news. The underdog fighting back, Crowhurst instantly became a hero. But the fame was unwarranted – he had lied about his position.
Crowhurst had decided to cheat. Knowing that his boat would never survive the rough Southern Ocean, he had contrived to sail across the Atlantic to the coast of South America where he would lay low and wait for the other eight competitors to catch up. Meticulously, he kept two log books, one recording his actual journey and the other his fabricated one. He spent hours each day carrying out complex mathematical calculations to maintain the deception.
He ceased all radio communications for 111 days and waited until he was sure the other competitors had cleared Cape Horn. In mid-April 1969 he learnt that Robin Knox-Johnston had completed the race, earning himself first prize – the Golden Globe trophy. But the second prize of £5000 was still up for grabs.
Crowhurst knew that he couldn't afford to win even the second prize because this would expose his log books to the scrutiny of the judges and the world's press and he would be found out.
By now, Nigel Tetley was the only other competitor besides Crowhurst in the running for second place. When Tetley learned that Crowhurst was just three days behind him, Tetley pulled out all the stops to ensure he won the second prize. But on 21 May, to Crowhurst's horror, he heard that Tetley had pushed his boat too far and had sunk. Crowhurst's strategy had been blown apart, he was now in the lead.
After spending months in solitude working on his log books, Crowhurst's sanity gave way as he faced the certain prospect of being found out and disgraced. He stopped racing and spent 150 hours in a writing frenzy, poring out his soul in a 25,000-word revelation of angry gibberish. By the time he finished he'd lost all touch with reality. 'I am what I am. I see the nature of my offence. It is finished. It is finished,' he wrote. Then, taking his ship's clock, he stepped into the Atlantic and disappeared.
On 10 July 1969, Donald Crowhurst's Teignmouth Electron was found drifting aimlessly by a cargo ship. The cabin was a squalid mess, but carefully laid out on the chart table were Crowhurst's log books. As a confessionary final act, Crowhurst had deliberately left proof of his deception for the world to find.
In the end, Knox-Johnston was awarded the £5000 second prize as well as the first prize trophy. Tetley, who was picked up by the US navy, was given a consolation prize of £1000. He used the money to begin building a new boat. But the burden of defeat in the Golden Globe became overwhelming for him and he too committed suicide, hanging himself less than a year after the race.
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