The Cruel Sea (novel)

"The Cruel Sea" (1951, ISBN 978-0141007328) is a novel by Nicholas Monsarrat. It follows the lives of a group of Royal Navy sailors fighting the Battle of the Atlantic during World War II.

The novel, based on the author's experience of commanding a corvette in the North Atlantic in World War II, gives a matter-of-fact but moving portrayal of ordinary men learning to fight and survive in a violent, exhausting battle against the elements and a ruthless enemy. Although "The Cruel Sea", a bestseller, is a better structured story the journalistic "Three Corvettes", actually written during wartime is a rivetting first hand account of the Battle of the North Atlantic with informative anecdotes about social history, war profiteering, censorship by Winston Churchill, attitudes towards the Russians, etc.

Plot summary

The action commences in 1939. Lieutenant-Commander George Ericson, after service in the Merchant Navy, is recalled to the Royal Navy and given command of the fictitious Flower-class corvette HMS "Compass Rose", newly built to escort convoys. His officers are mostly new to the Navy, especially the two new Sub-Lieutenants, Lockhart and Ferraby. Only Ericson, and some of the Petty Officers are in any way experienced.

Despite these initial disadvantages, the ship and crew work up a routine and gain experience. Bennett, the First Lieutenant, a drunken and shirking disciplinarian, leaves the ship ostensibly for health reasons, and the junior officers are able to mature.

The crew cross the Atlantic many times on escort duty. They are nearly sunk several times and eventually sink a German submarine, capturing the surviving crew. The sinking of a submarine forms a key episode in the book as Ericson must choose between destroying the enemy vessel or saving some British sailors who are in the water above the enemy's location. In 1943 they are torpedoed and forced to abandon ship. Most of the crew die in the freezing waters, but Ericson, Lockhart, and a few others are rescued the next day.

Ericson, now promoted to Commander, and his first lieutenant Lockhart, now a Lieutenant-Commander, take command of a new ship, the fictitious River-class frigate HMS "Saltash". (In the film, the ship is called "Saltash Castle" and is portrayed by a Castle class corvette, as no River class vessels were available.) They continue the monotonous and dangerous but vital duty of convoy escort.

A secondary plotline concerns Lockhart's ill-fated romance with a beautiful Women's Royal Naval Service officer.

When the war ends, the ship returns to port as a guard to several German submarines that have surrendered.

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

The novel was made into a film in 1953, directed by Charles Frend and starring Jack Hawkins as Commander Ericson.

ee also

The Cruel Sea (film)