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The Cruel Sea
£5.50
The highly acclaimed ‘Cruel Sea’ is one of the all time great naval and war thrillers. The film was a smash hit when released and both it and the book continue to enjoy undiminshed popularity. It covers not just the details of the battle, but deals with the people who fought it – their domestic triumphs, tragedies, worries and ambitions. Nicholas Monsarrat wrote:’This is the story – the long and true story – of one ocean, two ships, and about a hundred and fifty men. It is a long story because it deals with a long and brutal battle, the worst of any war. It has two ships because one was sunk, and had to be replaced. It has a hundred and fifty men because that is a manageable number of people to tell a story about. Above all, it is a true story because that is the only kind worth telling.First, the ocean, the steep Atlantic stream. The map will tell you what that looks like: three-cornered, three thousand miles across and a thousand fathoms deep, bounded by the European coastline and half of Africa, and the vast American continent on the other side: open at the top, like a champagne glass, and at the bottom, like a municipal rubbish dumper. What the map will not tell you is the strength and fury of that ocean, its moods, its violence, its gentle balm, its treachery: what men can do with it, and what it can do with men. But this story will tell you all that.Then the ship, the first of the two, the doomed one. At the moment she seems far from doomed: she is new, untried, lying in a river that lacks the tang of salt water, waiting for the men to man her. She is a corvette, a new type of escort ship, an experiment designed to meet a desperate situation still over the horizon. She is brand new; the time is November 1939; her name is HMS Compass Rose.Lastly, the men, the hundred and fifty men. They come on the stage in twos and threes: some are early, some are late, some, like this pretty ship, are doomed. When they are all assembled, they are a company of sailors. They have women, at least a hundred and fifty women, loving them, or tied to them, or glad to see the last of them as they go to war.But the men are the stars of this story. The only heroines are the ships: and the only villain the cruel sea itself.’
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Additional information
| Publisher | House of Stratus (19 Dec. 2011) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| File size | 1711 KB |
| Text-to-Speech | Enabled |
| Screen Reader | Supported |
| Enhanced typesetting | Enabled |
| X-Ray | Enabled |
| Word Wise | Enabled |
| Sticky notes | On Kindle Scribe |
| Print length | 452 pages |
by T H WORGAN
My wife is thoroughly enjoying this read – we met the Author’s son a few years ago and it is wonderful that we can now associate a nice man living quietly in the Lot valley here in France with the author and his superb account of a terrible time in our nation’s history which hopefully will never be forgotten
by Ranald Barnicot
I came to the novel after, very belatedly, seeing the film. This is still a good watch, with a masterly performance by Jack Hawkins, although some of the characters are stereotypical, such as the “silly ass” junior officer Ferraby. The book is on a higher level altogether with extremely fine writing, both descriptive and narrative. Monsarrat had served on the Atlantic convoys himself and experienced the privations and horrors at first hand. The whole book is permeated with compassion, even sometimes, though grudgingly, extended towards the enemy. The characterisation is much deeper than in the film – Ferraby, for instance, is portrayed much more sympathetically as a shy, inexperienced, insecure and understandably fearful young man. The book is also, for its time, quite frank in its sexual references. It’s patriotic, but makes clear the horrific cost of patriotism. It’s also clear-eyed about the rather cynical, unpatriotic attitudes which might be found in some of the civilian population. Another thing that becomes evident is the rather edgy relationship between the Brits and their US hosts when the corvette is laid up for refitting in New York harbour. Coming to political issues, Monserrat has no sympathy for striking workers in the UK or for Eire’s neutrality under De Valera – he shows no understanding of why the Irish might not want to co-operate with a country that had oppressed them for centuries. But these attitudes of Monserrat, mainly expressed through the First Lieutenant Lockshaw, are authentic, and must have been shared with many serving in the armed forces at the time.
by B S.
I don’t really ever read fiction,but enjoyed this book very much….surprising myself. I do believe it is very close to reality
by clive stocks
This is a great novel about the Royal Navy and sailors on the Atlantic Convoys in the war against the German Submarines. It is a classic and probably the best novel written about the War at sea in the Atlantic in World War 2. Really good on characters and the tactics of the corvettes and destroyers that took the battle to the German Submarines and helped win the war. The Battle of the Atlantic and the protection of the Atlantic convoys was the critical battle of World War 2 for Britain. Without the food and oil convoys Britain would have starved and lost the war in 1940-42. My father served on destroyers during the Battle of the Atlantic and this novel made me
realize what a significant contribution the Merchant and Royal Navy made to victory against Germany.I wish i had read the novel when he was still alive so i could have talked about it to him and his role in the war.This is a deep regret. The novel is moving sad inspirational and excellent.Read it and weep. They were heroes who helped keep us safe and fed. Highly recommended. Read with Pincher Martin by William Golding.
by Nicgf
Without question the definitive novel of the war in the North Atlantic, paints a moving picture of the men and women who served and waited. The greatest adversary is of course the sea…
by Kindle Customer
This is by far the best book I have ever read about the war at sea. I am ex Royal Navy and I is how hard it must have been. I recommend this book to Everyone interested in the war at sea.
by Kindle Customer
Very good read , a good insight into a lot of convoy ships and sailors that have only in recently been acknowledged (merchant navy)…
by Richard Walters
A very good novel in which the author absorbs the reader into the story with detailed characters, good interaction and storyline.