Break, Break, Break,
On thy cold grey stones, O Sea!
And I would that my tongue could utter
The thoughts that arise in me.
- Alfred Lord Tennyson

October 31, 1968
On the final day of a five month starting window, two sailboats, the last of nine, left the shores of England in competition of a single-handed, non-stop race to circle the globe.

Sponsored by the British Sunday Times, the race was open to all entrants and attracted a collection of experienced sailors, adventure romantics and inexperienced boatmen. Out of the nine entrants only one completed the race - five retired at different stages, one sank. Another, victory within grasp, chose the sea over what he decided was unnecessary commercialization of the event and sailed on instead, traveling another half-way around the world before finally coming to port in Tahiti. The remaining participant, Donald Crowhurst, one of the last starters, most infamously stayed in the Atlantic, falsifying complicated logs & misreporting his (sometimes record-breaking) progress.
Seemingly ill-fated from the beginning, Crowhurst spent eight months wrestling with his sailboat, his conscience and his psyche before losing the battle at which it is believed he stepped from his boat and let the waters close over his head.

His is one of the more dramatic of quite a collection of stories and characters involved with this race and the continued history of global sailing. Many of the entrants were lifelong sailors and there are some good books by them about the race or the world they live in. A documentary about Donald Crowhurst called Deep Water was released in 2006 which is a fascinating examination of the events including interviews with the participants, journalists of the time, family members as well as quite a bit of actual footage and photographs of Crowhursts boat as it was found drifting empty in the Atlantic. I guess it was inappropriate to title the documentary ‘In Deep Shit’.
A book about the event entitled A Voyage for Madmen was written by sailor Peter Nichols (he was not in the race).

Some other titles:
Bernard Moitessier - French sailor and author with a collection of books to his credit. It was he who sailed on, abandoning the race when near victory. An action not considered out of character for this sea gypsy. To quote:
“My intention is to continue the voyage, still nonstop, toward the Pacific Islands, where there is plenty of sun and more peace than in Europe. Please do not think I am trying to break a record. ‘Record’ is a very stupid word at sea. I am continuing nonstop because I am happy at sea, and perhaps because I want to save my soul.”

Robert Knox-Johnston- A World of My Own: - Race winner and the only person to complete the race. He donated all his winnings to a fund set up for the widow and children of the Crowhurst family. Researching this story found Knox actively sailing and racing the worlds oceans to this day, with a smile on his face and a single malt whiskey sponsor. Check out his website here.

Nigel Tetley - Trimaran solo: The story of Victress’ circumnavigation and last voyage - Tetley, wrongly believing he may be beaten by the misreported Crowhurst, pushed his tattered boat beyond the limit and sunk before finishing and was rescued from his life raft.

The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst by Nicholas Tomalin & Ron Hall

Information on the event at Wikipedia.