Heading home across the cruel sea

Apr 23 2008 by Peter Elson, Liverpool Daily Post

Coupled with this is the need to properly preserve the Western Approaches HQ (hopefully with National Trust help) from where Admiral Horton commanded the Battle of the Atlantic.

Meanwhile, on the Maltese island of Gozo, Ann was prompted to act when she decided to move out of the beautiful centuries-old converted farm house which the Monsarrats once shared. As old friends, in 2005 Ann asked if I could look for a possible home for the Nicholas Monsarrat archive. She says: “Nicholas really wanted to be considered as someone who had done something for Liverpool.

“That’s why I was determined that this archive, which is essentially the life of a writer, should finally return to his home town.”

On hearing the shortlist of possible organisations, she immediately chose the Liverpool Athenaeum, with its fine library the archive’s suitable resting place.

The Athenaeum conveys the ambience of the Liverpool that Nicholas once knew, and his father, Keith, was a member. Possibly they dined there together.

The saga of organising the Monsarrat Archive’s journey home has been one riven with curious coincidences.

One was Ann’s decision to include a 1929 painting showing the 19-year-old author-to-be, wearing his Cambridge University scarf, at Trearddur Bay, Anglesey, with his sister, Felicity.

The artist was Edward Halliday, a Liverpool School of Art graduate who also painted the allegorical murals in the Athenaeum’s library.

Another recent coincidence concerned the actual transit arrangements from Malta to Liverpool, which were being explored by the Athenaeum’s dynamic chief executive, Pamela Brown.

“At a shipping industry dinner, I sat next to the chairman of the giant French CGM shipping line,” says Pamela.

“I asked if he could help to return the archive to Liverpool and it turned out CGM owns the Malta container port which it runs as its central Mediterranean hub.

“CGM is ready to help and this is all perfectly feasible. It would be the easiest way to get the archive here,” says Pamela.

On arrival and after unpacking, the archive will be catalogued by Liverpool Record Office which holds The Cruel Sea original manuscript.

Should any ill-fate befall the Athenaeum in the future, then the archive will be auto-matically and in its entirety transferred to Liverpool Record Office.

It is planned to have an official hand-over by Ann and the Monsarrat family to the Athenaeum at a special VIP event in the autumn, and arrangements will be made for public access.

Judge John Roberts, president of the Athenaeum and a driving force behind returning the Monsarrat Archive to Liverpool, believes its arrival will be an important day for the city.

“We have a tremendous library here with key documents about Liverpool’s development and history.

“By acquiring the Monsarrat Archive, thanks to the incredible generosity of Ann Monsarrat, we will add the 20th-century dimension to the library’s works.”

Nicholas Monsarrat may be out of fashion now compared to his hey-day 50 years ago, but the sheer quality of his prose and story-telling stands the test of time in the pantheon of the best British writers.

THE Liverpool Daily Post, The Athenaeum Liverpool and Ann Monsarrat would like to thank Air Malta, Malta Tourism Authority, Grand Hotel Excelsior Malta and Corinthia International Hotels of Malta for their generous support in the Nicholas Monsarrat Archive project for Liverpool.

peter.elson@dailypost.co.uk

The Cruel Sea >>>