Abstract
The leisure use of the sea is a research area that has been neglected in maritime history. This is particularly unfortunate as yachting is unique among prestige sports in having a large literature. This article is concerned with understanding the parameters of emotional disorder reported by and among yachtsmen. It reviews previous theorising that was premised on ‘rational man’ and suggests that it is more useful to see the yachtsperson as operating as a hypothesis-tester, a process quite easily upset by the difficulties encountered at sea and the anxiety thereby engendered. More detailed models for single-handed and for crewed yachts are offered, illustrating these with case studies of Donald Crowhurst and the murder of the owner of the crewed yacht Apollonia. The description of madness at sea in such classic novels as Moby-Dick and Lord Jim and in the opera Peter Grimes suggests a fascination with the topic. The author suggests that the concept of ‘liminality’ – of the sea as a place where written and moral laws, as well as land-based modes of behaviour, are in abeyance – provides a useful heuristic to explain yarns, legal infringements and madness at sea.
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