Finished
Monsarrat At Sea. Great book. It's a collection of short stories and novellas written over a great period of time.
H.M. Corvette: The initial groundword for what would become The Cruel Sea. Monsarrat was a sub-lieutenant on a corvette he calls HMS
Flower (he had to use fictional names, it being wartime and all). He relates many stories and anecdotes, and it's obvious to a reader of
The Cruel Sea that several of his characters have experiences which in real life were Monsarrat's own. Though the character Lockhart is based on his own background, sub-lieutenant Ferraby gets one of the writer's real experiences: not knowing the correct command for taking in the stern lines, he gets help from the rating responsible for that job; all he has to do is give a general order to "take in the lines" and the enlisted rating does the rest for him. Again, when his is on his first night watch he starts to feel his power as the man actually in charge, and gives a course change order just to see what happens. The first lieutenant calls out "What the hell's going on up there?" Monsarrat answers that he saw a log in the water and changed course to avoid it, thus earning a dirty look from the lookout, who certainly would have shouted out had there been an actual log.
East Coast Corvette: Unlike his characters, who stay together for the war, Monsarrat was transferred to the British east coast when he was made first lieutenant. he relates many stories of dealing with attacks by German bombers and "e-boats" (Schnellboote).
Quote:
Lookout: "Aircraft, 10 degrees to starboard, sir!"
Self (using loudhailer so foc'sle crew will understand: "The aircraft approaching the starboard bow is a Hudson of Coastal Command. It can be recognized by the twin tails and thick fuselage..."
Lookout (respectfully): "Stick of bombs coming down, sir!"
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Corvette Command: Monsarrat gains command of his own ship. Since the east coast had quited down by 1944 he spends a lot of time talking about the loneliness of command; the captain is not part of the officers' wardroom, he is just a guest there. There is no one he can turn to for advice; he must work everything out for himself. He does relate one story about leaving a convoy to escort two ships into Hull. When racing to regain the convoy, they keep looking for "bouy number 25", but can't find it anywhere. As they approach the convoy, they can see the light from the bouy blinking on and off, but they can't seem to get any closer. Finally they discover the truth: one of the merchants ran over the bouy, severed its chain and is now towing bouy number 25 behind it. The chain finally fouled the merchant's propellor, and they had to call for a tug to tow the hapless merchant and a trawler to escort it to the nearest harbor.
I Was There: A delightful short story about three men delivering a yacht to its new owner. They are forced to anchor off Dunkirk for the night, and spend their time telling personal stories of the deeds done during the 1940 evacuation.
HMS Marlborough Will Enter Harbour...: Another fiction concerning a sloop which is torpedoed, losing half the crew instantly. It's an hour-by-hour account of the captain deciding whether to abandon ship or try to get her back to port.
It Was Cruel: A new account of Monsarrat's wartime experiences, written in 1970, so he can finally name the corvette he served on: HMS
Campanula. He includes more anecdotes, and finally reveals that his first captain was regular Naval Reserve and didn't like the 'Volunteer' reserves, and never hesitated to say so. No love lost there. He relates two similar experiences: one time he feels sorry for a German Condor pilot who flies 500 miles each way to drop one bomb a mile-and-a-half from the convoy. "What does he report when he gets home?" He then tells how much he hates it when there is an attack on Liverpool and one stray bomber has one bomb left and manages to use it to sink a merchant just as they're entering port at the end of the voyage.
The Ship That Died Of Shame: One last fictional story about a Fairmile-type gunboat HMS
MGB 1087. The story basically takes place in 1950, when the down-and-out former skipper is reunited with the boat and his former first lieutenant, who gets him involved in questionable smuggling operations. He knows that a ship is just steel and wood, and in no way like a woman, but the more illegal the jobs get, the more things seem to go wrong with the boat.
All-in-all,
Monsarrat At Sea is a fascinating read, and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes the sea, naval history or naval fiction.
I am currently starting
The Eyes Of The Fleet: A Popular History Of Frigates And Frigate Captains, 1793-1815, by Anthony Price.