The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst

On Halloween Day, 1968, weekend sailor and lifelong tinkerer Donald Crowhurst set sail aboard an untested trimaran, The Teignmouth Electron, determined to win the first-ever official race to single-handedly circumnavigate the globe. At stake was a generous cash prize that would save his failing business from insolvency and provide an opportunity to very publicly prove the value of the device he had invented (and that his business manufactured): the Navicator, a handheld marine navigation device. The race was sponsored by the Sunday Times, so the victor would get not just money but invaluable media exposure.
Even before the race began, things looked uncertain for Crowhurst. The boat he was sailing was of a completely new design, as yet unproven; one observer noted that the boat was very fast but that it couldn't sail close to the wind. And when it was running at full speed it began to vibrate, shaking loose the screws in the self-steering apparatus. Ironically,...