Publishing sensation

Jul 9 2007 by Peter Elson, Liverpool Daily Post

NICHOLAS MONSARRAT (1910 - 1979) was a Liverpool man, born at 11 Rodney Street, and the son of a leading Liverpool surgeon, Keith Monsarrat, who later chaired the British Medical Association.

After reading law at Cambridge University, his budding career as a solicitor stalled when he decided to leave Liverpool for London to become a writer.

Following publication of The Cruel Sea (1951) he became one of the most successful novelists of the 20th century, whose eventual cannon proved he was a truly gifted writer.

Always a keen yachtsman from his family’s annual holidays at Trearddur Bay, Anglesey, he was a Royal Naval Reserve officer when war broke out in 1939 and soon found himself on a corvette escorting Atlantic convoys.

His home-port was his home town and it was at his Albert Dock base that he spent the terrible days of the May Blitz, of 1941. He narrowly escaped death when a delayed action bomb exploded near his ship, HMS Campanula’s berth (several dockers were not so lucky).

The novelist won fame and fortune with his 12th book, The Cruel Sea, which he regarded as his “last shot” at becoming a professional writer. Until then he had earned £450 from his books and plays, written while working full-time as a British colonial administrator in South Africa and Canada.

The Cruel Sea was based on his wartime experiences and was a publishing sensation after its appearance in 1951, selling more than 10 million copies. Ealing Studios also had its biggest hit with the film version in 1953.

A wanderer by inclination, Nicholas craved solitude for writing. He also lived in Guernsey, an island in the St Lawrence River, Canada, with his third wife Ann, finally settling on Gozo, an island off north west Malta.

He returned the warm welcome from the Maltese and the Gozitans, most especially with his novel The Kappillan of Malta, which confirms the Monsarrats’ VIP status on the islands to this day.