The Mercy follows Donald Crowhurst’s disastrous attempts 
to win the 1968-69 race in his 41ft trimaran, Teignmouth Electron.

Crowhurst’s boat was ill prepared for the voyage, which claimed his life, and left his wife Clare a sea widow and his children fatherless.

Credit: Dean Rogers

The amateur sailor was dubbed ‘the mystery man’ by the press, but never made it past the southern Atlantic Ocean.

Instead, he falsified his logs and reported fictional positions after realising that his leaking trimaran would 
never make it through the Southern Ocean.

Crowhurst sunk everything he had into 
the venture, using his family home and his business as collateral. He had serious doubts about the voyage before he even left the Devon port of Teignmouth, where much of the film 
is shot.

This conflict between his fear of dying at sea or admitting defeat and risking subsequent humiliation is fascinating, and his romantic hope of being crowned a British 
hero like Sir Francis Chichester, had he completed the voyage, is heartbreaking to witness through film.

Excellently portrayed by Colin Firth, the actor leaves you in no doubt of the sheer angst that Crowhurst must have suffered.

He plays Crowhurst as a stoic, almost sleepwalking towards his fate and unable to step off the runaway train he is on, clinging to the hope 
that he can prove the cynics wrong and win 
the race.

Crowhurst’s descent into madness 
is not overdramatised, and is depicted as a gradual decline.

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He finally cracks when he learns of the fate of fellow trimaran competitor Nigel Tetley, who sinks and is rescued after pushing his boat too hard in the belief that Crowhurst was gaining on him.

A tear will certainly be shed towards the end of the film, when Crowhurst apologises for his shortcomings to a hallucination of his wife.

Rachel Weisz is moving as Clare, bringing home the uncertainty and fears of the often-forgotten sailor’s wife, left waiting on dry land.

Credit: Dean Rogers

Trying 
to hold her family together, she can be seen battling with her own demons after realising her outwardly confident husband is terrified
of heading out to sea.

More could certainly have been made, however, of the scene of their last night together, which didn’t quite convey the ‘frightful’ experience that Clare Crowhurst later publicly talked about.

Sailors will be relieved to know that unlike a certain Robert Redford sailing film, The Mercy doesn’t leave yachtsmen and women tutting and shaking their heads in disgust during the sailing scenes. Okay, so there were a few modern boats in Teignmouth Harbour as Teignmouth Electron leaves the port, but other than that, the sailing in the film remains solid and true to life.

Without a doubt, it is one of the best and most authentic sailing films that I’ve ever seen.

If you need even more of a ringing endorsement, one of the original Golden 
Globe Race competitors, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston – the only competitor to complete and subsequently win the original race, in
fact – said, ‘It was a great film.’

I was even 
lucky enough to sit in the same row as Sir Robin during the screening.

Credit: Dean Rogers

A nice touch is the film’s acknowledgment just before the end credits that Sir Robin donated his £5,000 prize money to Crowhurst’s family after his win.

The Mercy is released in UK cinemas on February 9, ahead of the 50th anniversary 
of the Golden Globe Race.

The 2018 edition 
of the race will start from Les Sables d’Olonne in France on July 1 after the Suhaili Parade of Sail in Falmouth on