Boating technology in the 1960s

[bdh198]

I recently saw The Mercy about Donald Crowhurst's tragic Golden Globe Race in 1968-69 and it got me thinking about how he (and other yachtsmen) would have communicated their positions back home.

I assume once out of radio communication range to a shore based station Donald Crowhurst would have communicated his positions to passing marine traffic and they would have relayed it on to a shore based station. However, if that is how he communicated his position why was his deception not discovered during the race? If he was telling the world that he was in the South Atlantic when actually he was 2000 miles north by the equator then surely the vessel receiving his message would know that he wasn't where he said he was because they would have needed to be in communication range to have received his message.

There is a good chance I have totally misunderstood the maritime communication technology available to small vessels in the 1960s so any clarification would be greatly appreciated.

 

[prv]

I assume once out of radio communication range to a shore based station

With HF radio you're never out of range of a shore-based station

Pete

 

[lpdsn]

why was his deception not discovered during the race?.

I believe he was communicating directly with shore stations but told them his radio was kaput for the lengthy period where his real and claimed position differed substantially.

 

[prv]

I believe he was communicating directly with shore stations but told them his radio was kaput for the lengthy period where his real and claimed position differed substantially.

Yes - though with ranges of thousands of miles bouncing off the ionosphere, you can plausibly claim to be a very long way away from where you are. I imagine he only had to go silent while purportedly right round the other side of the world - from the south Atlantic he could have talked to Cape Town and claimed to be well east of them, or to somewhere in Argentina and claimed to be out in the Pacific to their west.

Pete

 

[bdh198]

With HF radio you're never out of range of a shore-based station

Pete

That might explain it! Thank you

I suspected there was be a very simple answer that would risk making me look silly, but I've learnt that it's always better to ask!

 

[JumbleDuck]

I suspected there was be a very simple answer that would risk making me look silly, but I've learnt that it's always better to ask!

That's my philosophy of life! Nobody ever learned anything worthwhile without looking silly at some point of the process. Especially me.

 

[laika]

I recently saw The Mercy about Donald Crowhurst's tragic Golden Globe Race in 1968-69 and it got me thinking about how he (and other yachtsmen) would have communicated their positions back home.

As has been noted, they were encouraged to take radios (which Moitessier famously refused to do) and which Crowhurst used send his fake position reports. However IIRC (from "A world of my own" and "La Longue route") competitors also made use of the hoist "ZD2": "Please report my position to Lloyds of London".

As I noted on another thread a few years back I got in touch with Lloyds to ask who I should contact if I ever saw that hoist and how they distributed the information they received. The guy I spoke to in the department responsible said that facility was long defunct as he'd never heard of it being referenced in his 30+ years in the job. Don't know the situation with Coast Guard New York, Minmorflot Moscow or MSA Tokyo...

 

[lpdsn]

Yes - though with ranges of thousands of miles bouncing off the ionosphere, you can plausibly claim to be a very long way away from where you are. I imagine he only had to go silent while purportedly right round the other side of the world - from the south Atlantic he could have talked to Cape Town and claimed to be well east of them, or to somewhere in Argentina and claimed to be out in the Pacific to their west.

Pete

I would expect there to be quite a bit of direction finding capability available. Even if they didn't deliberately use it on Crowhurst they probably could've quite easily. HF direction finding was already quite advanced 25 years earlier when it was used to hunt down U-boats reporting home.

 

[prv]

I would expect there to be quite a bit of direction finding capability available. Even if they didn't deliberately use it on Crowhurst they probably could've quite easily. HF direction finding was already quite advanced 25 years earlier when it was used to hunt down U-boats reporting home.

Certainly it's technically possible, but were commercial coastal radio stations equipped for it? I was watching some old films of Portishead a while ago and I don't think any mention was made of DFing contacts.

Pete

 

[lw395]

HF DF is technically simple only with short range line of sight.
When it's atmospheric propagation, it would require collaboration between several receiving stations and an accurate time-base.

 

[lpdsn]

HF DF is technically simple only with short range line of sight.
When it's atmospheric propagation, it would require collaboration between several receiving stations and an accurate time-base.

OK, but Crowhurst only needed to be concerned about them doing it once.

 

[mainsail1]

I amazed Crowhurst had HF radio. The kit was so heavy in those days and the power consumption so great it was really for big ships.

 

[prv]

I amazed Crowhurst had HF radio. The kit was so heavy in those days and the power consumption so great it was really for big ships.

I’m reasonably sure the Army had man-portable HF sets at that point, so a yacht installation (I believe he had a dedicated petrol generator for powering it) isn’t that far-fetched.

Pete

 

[michael_w]

IIRC Crowhurst communicated via radio teletype (telex) with vague information as 'approaching the Cape' and 'On my way now'. The Sunday Times sent him numerous messages asking for an accurate position.

 

[prv]

IIRC Crowhurst communicated via radio teletype (telex)

Now that part does surprise me. Morse seems quite likely, but teletype equipment really was huge and power-hungry - and mechanically quite complex as well so not suited to a wet boat.

Pete

 

[Motor_Sailor]

I amazed Crowhurst had HF radio. The kit was so heavy in those days and the power consumption so great it was really for big ships.

Not so. We had an ex-Army No 62 set with a transistorised power supply unit that was about 18in x 10in x 12in. You could have worldwide communications for about £50.

The difficulty was accurately finding the Shore Station's working frequencies without crystal controlled channels. Using busy shore stations allowed you time to tune, but often involved interminable waits while they cleared other ships working traffic.

You also needed very good batteries or an engine with a decent dynamo to get a decent range.

I can't remember when the changeover came to duplex SSB, but that spelt the end of the cheap HF sets unless you worked in morse. But that was still really effective and regularly contacted Portishead Radio from the coast of China and Philippines.

Although these set-ups allowed 'reliable' long distance communication, the notion of 'reliability' should be seen against a very different set of parameters in those days. It took an enormous amount of planning and hard work to get a simple position report through to head office. It was a big enough job that larger merchant ships all carried one (or more) dedicated wireless officers to do the job.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

I've used portable HF sets in both Arctic and Antarctic; the ones I've seen look very much like Army Surplus! Green finish, 1950's style panel and handset, generally "agricultural" appearance. The first time I used them was in 1983, so I guess they are a pretty ancient design; they certainly weren't new technology then. And they would fit in a decent sized shoe-box; in fact they come in a box about shoe-box sized, which contains the handset and aerial as well as the electronics. The main point of failure we encountered was that the antenna (a cord with conductors woven into it) tended to develop faults - the conductors broke.

Crowhurst's main aim was to prove various electronic devices he was attempting to make and sell; hence the name "Teignmouth Electron"! So it is hardly surprising that he had what was then state-of-the-art stuff aboard, even if a fair bit of it didn't work.

 

[Blue Sunray]

I amazed Crowhurst had HF radio. The kit was so heavy in those days and the power consumption so great it was really for big ships.

Rubbish, manpackable HF has been around since at least the 1950s.

 

[Aardee]

Moitessier used to put messages into old 35mm film canisters and fire them onto passing ships decks with a catapult!

 

[[163233]]

I was curious so googled, found this online apparently by a Ron Stringer:-
http://www.shipsnostalgia.com/showpost.php?p=1439282&postcount=2

The newspaper that was sponsoring Donald Crowhurst paid Marconi Marine for a Kestrel II/Guardian HF/RT installation, which I fitted in the harbout at Teignmouth, shortly before he sailed on the Sunday Times "Golden Globe" race. He was still fitting the boat out when I left him, (having carried out various HF check calls via Portishead/Rugby, back to the London news desk and other 'phone subscribers). At that time there were no other radios fitted on board but it was several days before he finally set off on the race, so he might well have added equipment.

For a week or two after he left the UK he made regular calls back to the newspaper using the Kestrel II/Guardian and the equipment was still on board when the yacht was found abandoned mid-Atlantic. It had been partially dismantled at some point but was all still there.

The Kestrel II/Guardian installation was virtually the same as I fitted on the yacht of the eventual winner, Robin Knox-Johnson (Suhaili) and that was fitted on several other yachts in the race as well as on Francis Chichester's Gypsy Moth IV.
__________________
Ron

Found a pic here:-

Also a reference online to the construction of the Electron:-
https://www.triposo.com/poi/T__50da72a47e3a

Marconi Kestrel radio-telephone, Racal RA 6217 communications receiver, a Shannon Mar 3 transmitter/receiver, headsets, Morse keys, switch panels, and gross amounts of radio spares.

Info on the Racal set:-
http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/4111

I can find nothing on the Shannon.