Carozzo retired on 14 November, as he had started vomiting blood due to a peptic ulcer, and put into Porto, Portugal, for medical attention. Two more retirements were reported in rapid succession, as King made Cape Town on 22 November, and Fougeron stopped in Saint Helena on 27 November. This left four boats in the race at the beginning of December: Knox-Johnston's "Suhaili", battling frustrating and unexpected headwinds in the south Pacific Ocean, Moitessier's "Joshua", closing on Tasmania, Tetley's "Victress", just passing the Cape of Good Hope, and Crowhurst's "Teignmouth Electron", still in the north Atlantic.