The Cruel Sea (Penguin World War II Collection)

Product Information

Seldom, if ever, is it objectified, granularized and trivialized (and I use this term very, very circumspectly) in the way that it is here - and therein lies the glory of this book. The pervading spirit of the book is ennui - punctuated indiscriminately with rare picquances of drama. They both had to shout: the wind caught the words on their very lips and whipped them away into the night. I suppose you were slipping ashore the whole time.” He took an enormous gulp of whisky, coughed, and only just held on to it. His eyes moved unsteadily round to Morell and Ferraby. “And as for you married men—married — ” He lost the thread of what he was going to say, but unfortunately started again. “You had a wonderful time. Don’t tell me.”

Vagg, Stephen (27 July 2019). "Unsung Aussie Filmmakers: Don Sharp – A Top 25". Filmink. Archived from the original on 2 August 2020 . Retrieved 14 February 2020.Over half a century later, the historian Paul Kennedy still considered Monsarrat's fictionalisation of his experiences as the best and most authentic guide to the mentality of the wartime escort commander. [2] Film and radio adaptations [ edit ] The Cruel Sea is a 1951 novel by Nicholas Monsarrat. It follows the lives of a group of Royal Navy sailors fighting the Battle of the Atlantic during the Second World War. It contains seven chapters, each describing a year during the war. 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. Therefore it was an unusual and happy occasion earlier today when Martin walked with me to the Park Ridge Library booksale and I espied a copy of Monsarrat's The Cruel Sea, a novel Dad had had and which I had read sometime in childhood. The title might not have been enough. The author's name meant nothing. But the cover was the very cover of Dad's edition.

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. 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. Bridge!” he said, and listened for a moment. Then he straightened up, and called to the Captain across the gray width of the bridge. “Answer from Viperous, sir. . . . ‘Do not leave convoy until daylight.’” They rose, and lay wherever they were on the battlefield, waiting for the victors to claim their victory.The Cruel Sea by Nicholas Monsarrat is fiction, but it is based on the author’s own WW2 experiences. For four years, he was stationed in the Atlantic, serving on corvettes and on a frigate. This shows. It is clearly evident that the author writes about what he knows and has experienced firsthand. There was no answer. The range decreased as Compass Rose ran in: they were now within six hundred yards of the swimmers and the U-boat, the fatal coincidence that had to be ignored. This is a story of the Battle of the Atlantic, the story of an ocean, two ships, and a handful of men. The men are the heroes; the heroines are the ships. The only villain is the sea, the cruel sea, that man has made more cruel... This is good, very good, better than I I had expected. Years ago I had begun listening to this on a BBC broadcast. Such broadcasts are abridged, which is not to my liking! BENNETT, disliking the experience they were all sharing, said so with honest persistence. He was now the most vocal of the wardroom, complaining with an ill-temper colored by a real uneasiness: the rotten ship, the lousy convoy, the bloody awful weather - these were the sinews of an unending dirge that was really grounded in fear. Like the others, he had never seen weather like this, or imagined it possible: he knew enough about ships to see that Compass Rose was going through a desperate ordeal, but not enough to realize that she was built to survive it, and would do so. He doubted their safety, and doubt was translated by a natural process into anger. He had made a fool of himself over working out their position, too — so much so that the Captain, taking the sextant from him, had said: “ Leave it, Number One — I’d rat her do it myself"; it had not helped matters.