Search -
Off the Deep End: A History of Madness at Sea
Off the Deep End A History of Madness at Sea Author:Nic Compton In the eighteenth century, the Royal Navy's own physician found that sailors were seven times more likely to suffer from severe mental illness than the general population.On the high seas, beyond the rule of law, away from any sight of land for weeks at a time -- often living in overcrowded and confined spaces, where anything that goes wrong... more » could be fatal -- the incredible pressures on sailors were immense. The ever-present fear drove some men to faith in God and superstition -- and drove others mad.
Off the Deep End is the first detailed study of the effect on sanity that the vast, lonely, and powerful sea has always had on sailors. Eminently readable, Off the Deep End explores accounts that span the centuries, from desperate shipwreck stories and cannibalism in the Age of Sail to inexplicable multiple murders, to Donald Crowhurst's suicide in the middle of the 1968 solo Golden Globe Race, leaving behind two rambling notebooks of mounting neurosis and paranoia.
Of interest to readers of maritime history, psychology, sociology, and behavioral science, as well as sailors of all constitutions, this unique and fascinating book offers insight and analysis -- a thoroughly absorbing read about the effects of the cruel sea on the human mind.« less