Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Off the Deep End cover art

Off the Deep End

By: Nic Compton
Narrated by: Dugald Bruce Lockhart
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Under Full Sail cover art
The Great Race cover art
Titanic cover art
Wreck of the Whale Ship Essex cover art
Captain John Franklin's Lost Expedition cover art
Titanic & Lusitania: Survivor Stories cover art
Adrift cover art
Leviathan cover art
Fatal Voyage cover art
The Sinking of the Lusitania: The Most Controversial Submarine Attack of World War I cover art
Desperate Voyage cover art
The Mutiny on Board H.M.S. Bounty cover art
Alone cover art
Great South Land cover art
Paradise in Chains cover art
The Third Man Factor cover art

Summary

Off the Deep End is the first detailed study of the effect on sanity that the vastness, loneliness and inestimable power of the sea has always had on sailors' sanity, confusing the senses and making rational thought difficult. Eminently listenable, it explores accounts that span the centuries, from desperate stories of shipwreck and cannibalism in the Age of Sail, to inexplicable multiple murders, to Donald Crowhurst's suicide in the middle of the 1968 solo Golden Globe Race, leaving behind only rambling notebooks of mounting neurosis and paranoia.

In the 18th century, the Royal Navy's own physician found that sailors were seven times more likely to suffer from severe mental illness than members of the general population. On the no man's land of the high seas, beyond the rule of law, and away from any sight of land for weeks at a time, whilst living in an overcrowded and confined space, where anything that goes wrong would likely be fatal for all, the incredible pressures on sailors were immense. The ever-present fear drove some men to faith, in God and superstition, and drove some men mad. But that didn't stop as boat technology improved and seamanship evolved in the modern era.

Of interest to listeners of maritime history, psychology, sociology and behavioural science, this unique and fascinating book offers insight and analysis, as well as being a thoroughly absorbing listen about the effects of the cruel sea on the minds of men.

©2017 Bloomsbury (P)2017 Audible, Ltd.

What listeners say about Off the Deep End

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    8
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    7
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    6
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Off the deep enc

A wide ranging and humane account of the pressures and also the pleasures of setting sail.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Compelling listen

I purchased this audiobook in error, believing I had bought “Madhouse at the End of the Earth”. Fortunately, prior to contacting Audible for a refund, I listened to the first five minutes and was instantly hooked.

Off the Deep End is a highly listenable history of madness at sea.As someone with a casual interest in maritime history I found it fascinating and can recommend it wholeheartedly .

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!