Nigel Tetley (8 February 1924 – 2 February 1972) was a British sailor who was the first person to

circumnavigate Circumnavigation is the complete navigation around an entire island, continent, or astronomical body (e.g. a planet or moon). This article focuses on the circumnavigation of Earth. The first circumnavigation of the Earth was the Magellan Exped ...

the world solo in a

trimaran A trimaran (or double-outrigger) is a multihull boat that comprises a main hull and two smaller outrigger hulls (or "floats") which are attached to the main hull with lateral beams. Most modern trimarans are sailing yachts designed for recrea ...

.''A Voyage for Madmen'', by Peter Nichols; Harper Collins, 2001.

The race

A native of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, and a Lieutenant-Commander in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

, Tetley entered the 1968

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 non-stop round-the-world yacht race. The race was controversial due to the failure of most competitors t ...

, 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 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 Charles Alfred Crowhurst (1932 – July 1969) was a British businessman and amateur sailor who disappeared while competing in the ''Sunday Times'' Golden Globe Race, a single-handed, round-the-world yacht race held in 1968–69. Soon ...

, so instead of nursing his ailing boat along, he continued to sail as hard as he could. With to go, shortly after midnight on 21 May, the ''Victress'' broke up and sank under him. Tetley had time to get off a

Mayday Mayday is an emergency procedure word used internationally as a distress signal in voice-procedure radio communications. It is used to signal a life-threatening emergency primarily by aviators and mariners, but in some countries local organiz ...

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 ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Three weeks later, at the

coroner's inquest A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into the manner or cause of death. The official may also investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within th ...

, it was revealed that the body had been discovered clothed in

lingerie Lingerie (, , ) is a category of primarily women's clothing including undergarments (mainly brassieres), sleepwear, and lightweight robes. The choice of the word is often motivated by an intention to imply that the garments are alluring, fashio ...

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.Chris Eakin,''A Race Too Far'' London:Ebury Press, 2009 Nigel Tetley was cremated near Dover. Mourners included his wife, Eve, and fellow Golden Globe sailors

Robin Knox-Johnston Sir William Robert Patrick Knox-Johnston CBE RD* (born 17 March 1939) is a British sailor. In 1969, he became the first person to perform a single-handed non-stop circumnavigation of the globe. Along with Sir Peter Blake, he won in 1994 the s ...

and

Chay Blyth Sir Charles Blyth (born 14 May 1940), known as Chay Blyth, is a Scottish yachtsman and rower. He was the first person to sail single-handed non-stop westwards around the world (1971), on a 59-foot boat called ''British Steel (yacht), British ...

. Eve Tetley died on 22 February 2018.

References

Publications

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tetley, Nigel 1924 births 1972 deaths Single-handed sailors British non-fiction outdoors writers South African emigrants to the United Kingdom Deaths by hanging