The crew cross the Atlantic many times on escort duty in all kinds of weather, often encountering fierce storms in one of the smallest ships built to protect Allied convoys. Bennett, the first lieutenant, a mean and shirking disciplinarian with a penchant for bullying and canned sausages (" snorkers"), leaves the ship ostensibly for health reasons, and the junior officers are able to mature, with Lockhart gaining promotion to first lieutenant. Only Ericson and the petty officers are in any way experienced.ĭespite these initial disadvantages, the ship and crew work up a routine and gain experience.
His officers are mostly new to the Navy, especially the two new sub-lieutenants, Lockhart and Ferraby.
Lieutenant-Commander George Ericson, a Merchant Navy and Royal Naval Reserve officer, is recalled to the Royal Navy and given command of the fictitious Flower-class corvette HMS Compass Rose, newly built to escort convoys. The novel, based on the author's experience of serving in corvettes and frigates in the North Atlantic in the Second World War, 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. It contains seven chapters, each describing a year during the war. It follows the lives of a group of Royal Navy sailors fighting the Battle of the Atlantic during the Second World War.
The Cruel Sea is a 1951 novel by Nicholas Monsarrat.
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