My Father for years, with an almost mantra repetitiveness has been telling me to watch the film or read the Cruel Sea, I always replied, “will do” with no real intention of getting round to it. I am so glad I now have.

From London". The Mail. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 9 January 1954. p.50. Archived from the original on 29 March 2021 . Retrieved 10 July 2012. WHAT'S NEWS IN THE MOVIE WORLD". Sunday Times. Perth: National Library of Australia. 28 November 1954. p.39. Archived from the original on 29 March 2021 . Retrieved 10 July 2012. Ireland comes in for a lambasting; the country is potrayed as contemptible for remaining neutral and benefiting from the vital food and other supplies from North America, guarded by the Royal Navy, whilst at the same time allowing the Nazis to run an espionage base on their territory.They both had to shout: the wind caught the words on their very lips and whipped them away into the night. As soon as they got in at the end of their first trip. Ericson applied for another officer to be appointed to the ship; it was clear that there was far too much work for a First Lieutenant and two subs to handle, leaving out of account the chance that accident or illness might make them more shorthanded still. He presented a good case, arguing the matter first with a faintly supercilious staff officer who seemed to think that corvettes were some kind of local defense vessel, and then incorporating his arguments in a formal submission to the Admiralty: it must have been an effective document, since their Lordships acted on it within three weeks. Sub-Lieutenant Morell, they said, was appointed to Compass Rose, “additional for watchkeeping duties”; SubLieutenant Morell would join them forthwith. Xuereb, Paul (March–June 2001). Cauchi, Prof Maurice N (ed.). "Nicholas Monsarrat (1910–1979)". The Gozo Observer. University of Malta, Gozo Centre. 1 (5). Archived from the original on 23 February 2007 . Retrieved 8 May 2011. This novel brings those men to life. It feels so real, you can almost feel the cold winds of the North Atlantic, almost feel the exhaustion, almost feel the drudgery and misery of convoy escort duty. Smith, J. Y. (9 August 1979). "Author Nicholas Monsarrat Dies". The Washington Post . Retrieved 20 April 2017.

the time for sensibility was past, gentleness was outdated, and feeling need not come again till the unfeeling job was over." p. 106. Ericson was frowning at the two signals. “We sail this afternoon, and we’ll have to go without him. There’s no chance of getting a relief by then, either.” He looked up. “You’ll have to take over as Number One, and organize the watches on that basis.”

The book serves to bring to life the historical accounts of the war, but it also opens up parallels that exist in our current lives. In the hear-and-now, stresses are also ever-present and they accumulate with time. We eventually lose our peace-of-mind to a constant and continuing struggle.

Lieutenant Commander Nicholas John Turney Monsarrat FRSL RNVR (22 March 1910–8 August 1979) was a British novelist known for his sea stories, particularly The Cruel Sea (1951) and Three Corvettes (1942–45), but perhaps known best internationally for his novels, The Tribe That Lost Its Head and its sequel, Richer Than All His Tribe. [1] Early life [ edit ] Resigning his wartime commission in 1946, Monsarrat entered the diplomatic service. He was posted at first to Johannesburg, South Africa and then, in 1953, to Ottawa, Canada. He turned to writing full-time in 1959, settling first on Guernsey, in the Channel Islands, and later on the Mediterranean island of Gozo (Malta). The Cruel Sea was recommended to me (h/t Bevan) after I finished reading Wouk’s The Caine Mutiny. Part of the reason I loved The Caine Mutiny was its sense of authenticity. In its minutely detailed depiction of life aboard a rusting old minesweeper, I felt like Wouk had created something real. That is certainly the case here. Monsarrat served in the Royal Navy during World War II, and has a grasp of all the granular details of life aboard ship. The particularity is mesmerizing. Now that I’ve got your attention, let me say that The Cruel Sea is not the greatest war novel of all time. It is a masterpiece, I feel in some respects very ahead of its time (coming from my novice literature experience) it doesn’t shy away from anything, even delving into the troubles of married life with a no holes barred approach, which I would guess for the time it was written was taboo to say the least.

My Book Notes

You can really appreciate this was written by a person who had actually experienced these things, so the term historical “fiction” should be used loosely if describing this book. Can’t be soon enough for me, sir. Proper uproar, this is. A lot of the lads wish they’d joined the Army instead.”