Confined in a small space for months on end, subject to ship's
discipline and living on limited food supplies, many sailors of old lost
their minds--and no wonder. Many still do.
The result in some instances was bloodthirsty mutinies, such as the
whaleboat Sharon whose captain was butchered and fed to the ship's
pigs in a crazed attack in the Pacific. Or mob violence, such as the 147
survivors on the raft of the Medusa, who slaughtered each other in a
two-week orgy of violence. So serious was the problem that the Royal
Navy's own physician claimed sailors were seven times more likely to go
mad than the rest of the population.
Historic figures such as Christopher Columbus, George Vancouver,
Fletcher Christian (leader of the munity of the Bounty), and Robert
FitzRoy (founder of the Met Office) have all had their sanity
questioned.
More recently, sailors in today's round-the-world races often experience
disturbing hallucinations, including seeing elephants floating in the
sea and strangers taking the helm, or suffer complete psychological
breakdown, like Donald Crowhurst. Others become hypnotized by the sea
and jump to their deaths.
Off the Deep End looks at the sea's physical character, how it
confuses our senses and makes rational thought difficult. It explores
the long history of madness at sea and how that is echoed in many of
today's yacht races. It looks at the often-marginal behavior of sailors
living both figuratively and literally outside society's usual rules.
And it also looks at the sea's power to heal, as well as cause, madness.
