Conspiracy TV - Conspiracy Theory TV - Bloomberg Business - Kurt Vonnegut - Max Keiser TV - Gangs of London TV - Paul Foot - Deep Water 2006 - Secrets of the Royal Yachts TV - Storyville: Maiden TV - Inside Monaco: Playground of the Rich TV - World’s Most Luxurious Yachts TV - Billionaire Superyachts: Luxury at Sea TV - Elizabeth: Our Queen TV - Killer Storm: Fastnet Disaster TV - Untold: The Race of the Century 2023 -
Media tycoon Robert Maxwell who died under mysterious circumstances in 1991 ... He went missing from his yacht ... ‘The story is it was a hit-squad from Mosad’. Conspiracy: Lord Lucan Dossier, commentary with Kevin Cahill quote, BBC 2015
Four conspiracies, disappearances and murder offer a fantastic canvas on which to speculate. Conspiracy Theory: Disappearances, 2008
Britain’s most flamboyant media tycoon [Maxwell] was a victim of a special-forces operation? ibid.
The billionaire owner of the Daily Mirror hit the front pages in November 1991 after he went missing from his yacht. ibid.
Some people think the cause was far far darker. ibid.
It’s a modern dilemma for the ultra-wealthy: a yacht awaits, but how to safely reach it without exposure to the germ-ridden masses? Bloomberg business, twitter online
Having a yacht is a reason for being more cheerful than most. Kurt Vonnegut
The gap between the have-yachts and the have-nots is getting wider. Max Keiser, The Keiser Report, RT 23 June 2020
Mrs Wallace, please take a seat. Your husband was one hell of a squirrel, Mrs Wallace … [hands wife photo of yacht] He spent £36 million on it. We had to pay over the odds to drill down on this. This island cost him around £180 million. He named the boat about six months ago The Floriana. Gangs of London s1e3, lady investigator, Sky Atlantic 2020
The Sunday Times organised a Round the World Yacht Race in 1969. An unlikely entrant was one Donald Crowhurst, who left late and ill-equipped.
Before he crossed the Atlantic, he realised that he was not going to make it round the world. He had neither the equipment nor the navigational skill. He was reluctant to return to jeering reporters, disappointed family and friends – so he hit on a compromise. He said he was going round the world when he wasn’t.
He did in speech what he could not do in fact. For several weeks his brilliant reports of record-breaking sailing through the South Pacific hoodwinked the Sunday Times and everyone else. But as he realised he could never maintain the hoax once he got home, Crowhurst started to go mad. Eventually he walked off the end of his boat and drowned. Paul Foot, article 1987, ‘Without a Paddle’
We are all human beings and we have dreams. This voyage was darkness. For him it was the adventure. There may have been an element he wanted fame and glory. He wasn’t adverse to taking risks … Imagination is the danger … It’s about isolation and the delicate mechanism of the mind. Deep Water, 2006
May 1967: It was this new Elizabethan age.’ ibid. Ted Hynds
Sunday Times came up with the idea of a non-stop race around the world. ibid.
Some of the world’s most experienced sailors began to gather in the ports of Britain. ibid.
And then there was the mystery man – Don Crowhurst. ibid.
‘He was almost a weekend sailor.’ ibid. Hynds
‘This bloody boat is just falling to pieces.’ ibid. Crowhurst
A leaking boat he had to bail by hand. ibid.
There was a third option … ‘243 miles in one day’. ibid.
While gradually the cables he sent back to London mapped out the story of a fake journey. ibid.
Robin Knox-Johnston: 312 days. ibid.
‘I am a bit concerned about a change of personality.’ ibid. wife
‘It is a terrible sin for a cosmic being.’ ibid. Crowhurst gone mad
‘My father’s boat had been found but he wasn’t in it.’ ibid. son
Piece by piece the truth of Donald Crowhurst’s voyage was uncovered. ibid.
Of the nine men who had set out Robin Knox-Johnston was the only one to finish. He donated his £5,000 cash prize to the Crowhurst family. ibid.
A floating palace whose name really did rule the waves. A workplace for 250 sailors. And one extraordinary family’s home from home. Secrets of the Royal Yachts I: Britannia, Channel 5 2017
This is the story of Her Majesty’s Yacht Britannia … The world’s most famous motor-yacht. ibid.
Britannia had sailed every ocean … hosting heads of state … Britannia always represented a little piece of home. ibid.
On 4th February 1952 the John Brown shipyard received confirmation to start building this new palace at sea. ibid.
This labyrinth of pipes and gauges is the beating heart of Britannia. The two geared steam turbines developing a total of 12,000 shaft horsepower allowing the yacht to reach speeds of 22.5 knots. ibid.
In the course of three days the Royal Yacht and her crew saved the lives of 1,082 people at Aden. ibid.
The running costs were £10 million a year. ibid.
They’re icons – the absolute last word in style and engineering. In their day they were the biggest, the most powerful and the most complicated machines ever built by man. Secrets of the Royal Yachts II: The Queen Mary: Royals at Sea
She attracted the celebrity A-listers of her day. And became the favourite of our most controversial king. Every detail about this ship was intricate and every feature awesome. Wherever she went she turned heads. ibid.
She was the last word in luxury. ibid.
The engine room is so big it took up most of the space on five lower decks in the 1,000-feet-long royal ship. ibid.
Called into military service, painted grey. ibid.
‘The ocean is always trying to kill you. It doesn’t take a break. The probability just not making it is high. You’re on your own. There is no hope if anything happens.’ Storyville: Maiden, BBC 2019
Hello, I’m Tracy, skipper of Maiden, the first all-female challenge of the Whitbread Round the World Race. ibid.
At 33,000 miles it is the longest race on Earth. ibid. television commentary at Southampton
‘Being a girl is like being disabled in the sailing world.’ ibid. crew member
‘We were doing something we were told we couldn’t do.’ ibid.
The first rule of yachting: everything is hidden. Inside Monaco: Playground of the Rich I, steward of large yacht, BBC 2020
Yacht Show week is a busy time not only for people selling yachts but also the Monaco companies who help the world’s wealthy with the running of their complex affairs. Inside Monaco: Playground of the Rich II, BBC 2020
Back in the harbour Classic Yacht week is in full swing. The event is being hosted by Monaco’s exclusive Yacht Club established by Prince Ranier in 1953. Membership is by invitation only. Inside Monaco: Playground of the Rich III, BBC 2020
This lifestyle doesn’t come cheap. A superyacht costs between ten and one hundred and twenty million pounds to buy. And just under a million pounds a years to run. It’s not just about the gadgets – super-yachting offers privacy, relaxation and a travel experience bordering on perfection. World’s Most Luxurious Yachts aka World’s Most Luxurious s1e1, MTV 2020
Berths are in high demand across the Mediterranean with the sought-after spots costing almost £5,000 per night. ibid.
Bash has over one million pounds’ worth of the latest water toys. ibid.
The Fastnet race of 1979 is one that its competitors will never forget. An iconic sailing race around the notorious Fastnet rock. In the summer of 1979 it was hit by a storm that no forecaster saw coming. Killer Storm: The Fastnet Disaster, Channel 5 2023
Four days that changed yacht racing … 300 boats hit by a one in a generation sea-storm that took the lives of 21 people. ibid.
‘No idea of the carnage awaiting.’ ibid. Fred Dinenage
‘An absolute beast of a storm.’ ibid. historian
‘Storm force 10 imminent.’ ibid. forecast
Nimroad aircraft would direct the operation. ibid.