Book description
Nicholas Monsarrat's war, in those dark years of 1939-1945, was a
ferocious, unforgiving, terrible war: the Battle of the Atlantic. An
RNVR officer, he served on His Majesty's corvettes, tough little ships
charged with the impossible task of seeing vital convoys safely through
the packs of marauding U-boats. Between watches he kept a record of life
on board, the good times and the bad, true tales of heroism, fear and
all too often death. This was the war at sea as it really was. The three
books were sensationally published even while the war raged about him,
and make a fascinating prelude to the post-war
The Cruel Sea
.
Also in this edition are his other short pieces on the sea, including
the stories HMS Marlborough Will Enter Harbour and The Ship That Died of
Shame. Here is some of the most dramatic literature of the sea ever
written, from one of the finest writers of his generation. Nicholas
Monsarrat was born with the sea in his blood. During the war, he rose to
become a First Lieutenant RNVR, then a corvette captain, then a frigate
captain, all the while making notes, keeping a diary, publishing wartime
accounts. After the war, Monsarrat's career as diplomat and novelist
took every twist and turn in the book. He died of cancer in 1979 and was
buried at sea from a destroyer, off Portsmouth.
