Book Review: Off The Deep End: A History of Madness at Sea by Nic Compton

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the premise for this; Off The Deep End scrutinises the effects of the sea on mental health- whether that be to seamen, navigators, or modern day sailors. Nic Compton manages to include a vast number of conditions that could negatively impact mental health, as well as covering a broad timescale from the dawn of ships, to the explorations of 'uncharted waters' and beyond.

The early chapters are easily the best. I loved the explanations on the optical illusions known as 'Fata Morgana' and how this may have led sailors to interpret the phenomenon as The Flying Dutchman - leading to superstitions and religious fervor. From this point we are then introduced to Darwin, and his doomed captain and navigator aboard the Beagle, with suicide and madness. Then we jump to shipwrecks, whales with grudges, and cannibalism. It was certainly interesting - and after reading I can certainly see why seamen have such a high proportion of mental illness rates. It would seem everything is set against them - including even the rations and living quarters!

Everything is well researched and goes into some detail about various voyages and navigational terms. I appreciated this to some respect, as it's clear the author has spent a great deal of time carefully getting all the facts to help construct his arguments, but it also made the text heavy going at some points. It wasn't a light read, and I found myself dipping in and out of it in between other books. The text, as you might imagine, is also quite dark at times. There don't seem to be many happy endings for sailors.

I didn't enjoy the more contemporary chapters as interesting. I'm a history nerd at heart, and these just didn't hold my attention as much. Because of this, I found myself wishing there were more chapters on British naval history, and the stigmas attached to sailors of this time rather than now. However, I do understand that it's an important subject to broach, as the struggle against mental illness continues. I'm all for raising awareness.

An interesting topic.

 - 3 stars