The Mercy Page #2

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But those are the givens in the equation.

One's obligations.

How romantic,

says the "obligation" sitting here.

What have I done in all these years?

Don...

(Clare sighs)

You have done so much.

You've served your country.

You've held a post on the borough council.

You've... invented things.

You've engineered them into existence

from pure imagination.

I don't want to make devices that

allow others to have all the adventures.

All right,

but then what about the company?

What happens to Electron Utilisation

if you just sail away?

Well, consider for just a moment

the recognition of such a voyage.

Would not all that accrue directly

to the value of the company?

- Hmm.

- To us?

Larger house, larger bank accounts.

Oh, Don, we hardly need

a larger house.

More than the material gains,

it would result in children

who are proud of their father

for doing what no other man

in the county would even contemplate.

I think I can win this race, Clare.

(Woman) 'Don's not still talking

about making a boat?

- (Clare) 'Yes.

- 'Clare, you have to stop him.'

Stop him from... dreaming?

Well, how would you suggest I do that?

(Woman) 'No, not from dreaming.

Dreaming's one thing.'

But leaving in a boat on some sunny day

is quite another.

Well, I have complete faith

that he will wake up from this dream

before that sunny day actually arrives.

- 'He usually does.'

- 'You think he'll change his mind?'

Well, that's what I admire about Don.

He has a mind that's

capable of change.

You want to build a boat?

This boat, it'll be a trimaran.

A three-hulled vessel

based on the Piver design.

It'll feature a treasure trove

of technical innovations,

all pioneered by Electron Utilisation,

incorporating the Navicator

and a dozen other major innovations.

It'll feature an inflatable buoyancy

device at the top of the mast.

So, if she gets into trouble,

the CO2 cartridge is triggered

by the capsizing event,

shoots up the mast,

and inflates the buoyancy bag at the top.

So if she goes over,

she'll just pop back up again.

Without question,

it'll be the fastest boat in the race.

We enter it in the Golden Globe.

The biggest sailing race ever

becomes our advertising campaign.

"We" enter it?

I didn't come here

asking for charity, Mr Best.

I'm offering something new.

- Who pilots the boat?

- I do.

You? Have you ever done anything

like that before?

No, but that's the point.

That's the business proposition.

If I can do it, then so can the bloke

who stares at the horizon in wonder.

If I'm putting in the money...

...what are you putting in?

Everything else.

(Hallworth) So you're not really a sailor?

(Crowhurst) Seems to me

the act of sailing makes one a sailor.

How about you, Mr Hallworth?

How did you come to be a press agent?

Oh, I was a reporter for a time.

A crime reporter.

So your experience as a press agent

appears to rival that of mine as a sailor?

Touch, Mr Crowhurst.

But, you see, publicity can be done

from the safety of a desk chair

whereas your competitors have a great deal

more experience at the helm of a boat.

Nobody has experience of sailing round

the globe single-handed without stopping.

And the proof of that is the simple fact

it has not been done before.

(Chuckles) It's a good point, that.

Yes, but then there's, you see,

for example, there's this Frenchman.

- Moitessier.

- Moitessier.

Now he sailed from Tahiti to Cape Horn,

through the Southern Ocean.

Two of these other bastards rowed

a bloody boat across the Atlantic.

Another commanded a submarine

in the war.

Moitessier, Knox-Johnston, Tetley and

the others, they're accomplished sailors.

- But when I win the Golden Globe...

- You can't think you're going to win?

Making it out to sea

is a feat for you, isn't it?

Chichester averaged

131 miles a day in his ketch.

- I believe I can make 200 in a trimaran.

- (Laughs)

I tell you what I see

when I look at you, Donald.

I see a part of England that's been lost.

The intrepid part that Churchill convinced

us of when the bomb were falling.

That "never say die" England.

I tell you, you're a story of derring-do

waiting to be told, Donald Crowhurst.

(James) When do you set sail?

Well, the rules of the race state that

competitors leave by October 31st.

So, before then.

- (Simon) And how will you go?

- The clipper route.

Down the Atlantic past Cape of Good Hope

and into the Southern Ocean.

Not really a place

for our little Pot Of Gold.

Streaking across the Roaring Forties

south of Australia, north past Cape Horn,

and back into the Atlantic again.

Trudging across the Horse Latitudes

before getting a last puff

from the Westerlies.

(James) Wow! What an adventure!

(Hallworth) So far we've got plenty

of tinned goods from Crosse & Blackwell.

We've got a commitment from Whitbread

for barley wine. Looks nice.

Now, also, the BBC are going to provide

you with a camera and tape recorder.

They're wanting you to keep an audio

and visual record for a film piece

- they're planning on your voyage.

- Film?

They want you keep

a daily written account, as well,

so you'll come back

a sailor and an author.

Golden Globe, slate one, take one.

Your husband will be gone for six months

with only intermittent contact.

Is that daunting to you?

I'm going to need you

to send me frequent updates.

I can drum up all the publicity

and whatnot,

but I want you to help me feed the beast.

The beast?

Well, naturally, I shall miss him because

he's the most marvellous company, but...

Well, I told myself it's only six months,

and we're going to manage in that time.

And I have no reservations whatsoever

about his safety,

because he's the sort of person

who will think of 1,001 ways

out of any situation.

I want you to make it real for all of us.

The wind, the waves, the whales, the...

All of it.

We're going to make you famous.

(Radio) 'The third competitor of the

Golden Globe race, Robin Knox-Johnston,

'is leaving today.'

'The Golden Globe trophy

will be offered to the first person...'

He's leaving today,

and we're not even in the water yet.

He may get back before I do,

but the question remains,

who can make the trip the fastest?

So, when are we leaving?

August at the latest.

Don't want to give them all

too much of a head start.

I am not going

to ask Mr Best for more money.

That's out of the question.

With all the new ideas, we seem

to be getting further and further behind.

Are you telling me August 1st

is no longer possible?

- Don, it never really was.

- September 1st?

Aiming for October 1st,

more realistically.

Or we need to put more people on,

double our shifts.

- No, no. The success of the project...

- Associated costs...

No!

(Best) Two more left this morning.

I don't believe any of the three can

average more than 4.5 knots per day.

Maybe 100 miles. Lucky to complete

the route in less than 300 days.

- And you?

- Closer to nine knots and as high as 15.

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