Nigel Tetley was the first person to circumnavigate

Circumnavigation

Circumnavigation – literally, "navigation of a circumference" – refers to travelling all the way around an island, a continent, or the entire planet Earth.- Global circumnavigation :...

 the world solo in a trimaran

Trimaran

A trimaran is a multihulled boat consisting of a main hull and two smaller outrigger hulls , attached to the main hull with lateral struts...

.

The race

A native of South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

, and a Lieutenant-Commander in the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

, he entered the 1968 Sunday Times Golden Globe Race

Sunday Times Golden Globe Race

The Sunday Times Golden Globe Race was a non-stop, single-handed, round-the-world yacht race, held in 1968–1969, and was the first round-the-world yacht race...

, which was the first non-stop, single-handed, round-the-world yacht race. Tetley sailed the Victress, a plywood trimaran that also doubled as his home.

He completed the circumnavigation when he crossed his outgoing track on the evening of 22 April 1969, but at that point he was still 5000 nautical miles (9,260 km) from finishing the race and claiming the prize for fastest passage. The Victress at this point was slowly disintegrating, but Tetley thought he was being chased by another trimaran piloted by Donald Crowhurst

Donald Crowhurst

Donald Crowhurst was a British businessman and amateur sailor who died while competing in the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, a single-handed, round-the-world yacht race. Crowhurst had entered the race in hopes of winning a cash prize from The Sunday Times to aid his failing business...

, so instead of nursing his ailing boat along, he continued to sail as hard as he could.

With 1200 nautical miles (2,222.4 km) to go, shortly after midnight on May 21, the Victress broke up and sank under him. Tetley had time to get off a Mayday

Mayday (distress signal)

Mayday is an emergency procedure word used internationally as a distress signal in voice procedure radio communications. It derives from the French venez m'aider, meaning "come help me"....

 call before taking to his life raft, and was picked up the following afternoon.

It later turned out that Tetley had not needed to hurry. Donald Crowhurst had faked his round-the-world trip, sailing only in the Atlantic and radioing false position reports. Tetley was awarded a £1,000 consolation prize by the race organizers. By now he was obsessed with properly completing a circumnavigation, so he used the money to immediately build a new trimaran, which he called the Miss Vicky. He wrote a book about the experience that was published the following year.

Death

Tetley was never able to raise enough money to completely outfit the new boat. Though showing no outward signs of stress or depression, he went missing on 2 February 1972. His body was found three days later, hanging from a tree in woods near Dover

Dover

Dover is a town and major ferry port in the home county of Kent, in South East England. It faces France across the narrowest part of the English Channel, and lies south-east of Canterbury; east of Kent's administrative capital Maidstone; and north-east along the coastline from Dungeness and Hastings...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. Three weeks later, at the coroner's inquest

Inquest

Inquests in England and Wales are held into sudden and unexplained deaths and also into the circumstances of discovery of a certain class of valuable artefacts known as "treasure trove"...

, it was revealed that the body had been discovered clothed in lingerie and the hands were bound behind the back. The opinion offered by a pathologist suggested masochistic sexual activity. The coroner, noting there was no evidence that Tetley had deliberately taken his life, recorded an open verdict.

Nigel Tetley was cremated near Dover. Mourners included his wife, Eve, and fellow Golden Globe sailors Robin Knox-Johnson and Chay Blyth

Chay Blyth

Sir Charles Blyth, CBE, BEM , known as Chay Blyth, is a Scottish yachtsman and rower. He was the first person to sail non-stop westwards around the world , on a 59-foot boat called British Steel.- Early life:...

.

Publications