SHIPS, MEN — and THE CRUEL SEA

New Zealand Listener, Volume 28, Issue 715, 27 March 1953, Page 6

SHIPS, MEN — and THE CRUEL SEA

HE CRUEL SEA is, in the words of its author Nicholas Monsarrat, the story of two ships, a group of men, and the sea: of what men do to the sea, and of what the sea does to men. The story so caught the public imagination that the book has had big sales (500,099 copies), has been translated into nine languages, and is being made into a film. A radio dramatisation produced by the South African Broadcasting Corporation and introduced by* Monsarrat himself has now reached New Zealand and will shortly be broadcast from ZB stations. The basis of Monsarrat’s novel is a true story, that of the Battle of the Atlantic, and a close-up of a group of men who fight that battle from beginning to end, first losing, then holding their own, then winning. The principal character is Lieut.-Com-mander George Eastwood Ericson, a Royal Naval Reserve officer who is given command of a new anti-submarine vessel, the Flower Class corvette Compass Rose. His crew is typical of other crews of the Royal Navy at the outbreak of wardrawn from all walks of life, with only a few experienced men. The Compass Rose’s First Lieutenant is an Australian volunteer reserve officer, Lieut. James Bennett. The two Sub-Lieutenants are an ex-journalist, Lockhart, who has done some yachting, and an ex-bank clerk,

Ferraby, who has never been to sea: The lower deck is ruled by Petty Officer Tallow, a man with 17 years in the navy, and the engine room by Watts, who is of course a Scot. Ericson, a good seaman and a mature man, is married to a plump, pleasant, placid faced woman. Bennett is rough, unmarried and not fussy about women. Lockhart lives with his sister, and Ferraby-who has been married’ six weeks — is young and q@insure. The thread of these men’s lives ashore provides an interesting sub-plot to the main story of the battle at sea. eAfter working-up exercises the Compass Rose joins her first convoy, a 16-day effort described as "a bloodless skirmish."

On returning to port Ericson asks for an additional officer for watch-keeping dutie’. He gets Sub-Lieutenant Morell, a very proper, though witty, ex-junior barrister, fresh from the training centre. The first few convoys are uneventful, but shortly after the first spell of leave Bennett does not return. He has discovered "a suspected duodenal ulcer." Then comes the period when, shortly after Dunkirk, all the Compass Rose’s convoys suffer some kind of attack, either submarine or air. The shortage of escorts becomes apparent. Between times other problems crop up. Able- Seaman

Gregg is absent without leave for 17 days, Reluctantly he explains that he has found a_ salesman has been visiting his wife during his absence. Ericson has difficulty deciding whether to convict him. After one convoy they find Liverpool has been bombed. Lockhart’s house has been hit and his sister killed. Morell begins to suspect that his actress wife is unfaithful, ~~

On the next convoy there is an attack by nine submarines. Several ships are torpedoed, including Compass Rose’s sister-escort Sorrel. While picking up suryivors, the ship’s detecting equipment (Asdic) locates what is thought to be a submarine. Ericson attacks with depth charges, killing the survivors still in the water, only to find that the Asdic has picked up not a U-boat but a torpedoed ship sinking slowly to the bottom. He gets very drunk. Later, while catching up with a convoy, the corvette sights a U-boat trailing the other ships. She attacks, sinks the submarine, and captures the commander. On her next convoy, however, the Compass Rose herself is the victim. The only survivors of the crew of 91 are Ericson, Lockhart, Ferraby and eight other men. The second ship-a new-class frigate called Saltash-then makes its appearance. Besides commanding her, Ericson is also to command an escort group of seven other ships.. The new crew includes an Australian gunnery officer, Allingham, a Harley Street doctor, Scott-Brown, and an Eton man, Holt. By the time the Saltash puts to sea the tide of the Atlantic battle has turned. Each month there is a mounting toll of U-boats sunk. But the end is not yet. Ericson’s escort group takes a convoy to Russia. A storm scatters the ships. When the sun breaks through only three are in sight. When finally they have all been rounded up, one is torpedoed. There follows a merciless hunt in which the U-boat almost escapes but is eventually detected by Pergola, a sister ship of Saltash, is tracked down and killed. D-Day finds Saltash patrolling off the invasion beaches,

where she _ claims another U-boat kill, and finally, when the Germans capitulate, she receives the surrender of three of her _ undersea enemies. The story ends as Saltash shepherds the Uboats towards Loch Ewe, with Lockhart and Ericson standing on the bridge. The Cruel Sea was adapted for radio by Margot Bryant, an Austra-lian-born South African journalist,

and a close friend ‘of Monsarrat. Over lunch with the author one day, Margot was told, "The SABC is keen to do a radio version. How about adapting it for me?" She began work next day. Henry Howell, the SABC’s Organiser of English Broadcasts at Johannesburg, plays Ericson, while Hugh Rouse, his Durban counterpart, plays Lockhart. Cedric. Messina is the producer. According to Nicholas Monsarrat there is no "luck" involved in the writing of a best-seller such as The Cruel Sea. The requirements he states are (1) to be born in 1910 or thereabouts-so as to be the right age to command your own ship in the war; (2) to be interested in the sea-so that you will join the Navy and not the Army or Air Force; (3) to have learned how to write-so as to know how to set the story down; (4) to have fought the Battle of the Atlantic from beginning to end, to have stayed alive, and to remember; (5) to have thought about the book for three years, selecting and cutting; and (6) ‘to "have written for two years in spare time, re-writing three times, and using 600,000 words. "The book," he says) "is tiredness _and squeezed out time, and losing faith, atid slow growth from page to page." The Cruel Sea will play from commercial stations at 9.0 p.m. on Saturdays, beginning at 1ZB, 2ZB and 2ZA ‘on April 4, and at 3ZB and 4ZB on April 18.