HMS Marlborough Will Enter Harbour

by Nicholas Monsarrat

In 'H.M.S. Marlborough Will Enter Harbour', an old sloop, homeward bound, is torpedoed, leaving her guns out of action, more than three-quarters of her crew dead, and radio contact impossible. But her valiant captain steadfastly refuses to surrender his ship... In 'Leave Cancelled', an army officer and his young wife concentrate their passionate love into twenty-four hours, knowing that it might be their last chance... And in 'Heavy Rescue', an old soldier, having lived on the scrap heap for more than twenty years, finds that gallantry is once again in demand when he becomes leader of a Heavy Rescue Squad...

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, World War II, Short Stories, War

252 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1947

About the author

Born on Rodney Street in Liverpool, Monsarrat was educated at Winchester and Trinity College, Cambridge. He intended to practise law. The law failed to inspire him, however, and he turned instead to writing, moving to London and supporting himself as a freelance writer for newspapers while writing four novels and a play in the space of five years (1934–1939). He later commented in his autobiography that the 1931 Invergordon Naval Mutiny influenced his interest in politics and social and economic issues after college.

Though a pacifist, Monsarrat served in World War II, first as a member of an ambulance brigade and then as a member of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR). His lifelong love of sailing made him a capable naval officer, and he served with distinction in a series of small warships assigned to escort convoys and protect them from enemy attack. Monsarrat ended the war as commander of a frigate, and drew on his wartime experience in his postwar sea stories. During his wartime service, Monsarrat claimed to have seen the ghost ship Flying Dutchman while sailing the Pacific, near the location where the young King George V had seen her in 1881.

Resigning his wartime commission in 1946, Monsarrat entered the diplomatic service. He was posted at first to Johannesburg, South Africa and then, in 1953, to Ottawa, Canada. He turned to writing full-time in 1959, settling first on Guernsey, in the Channel Islands, and later on the Mediterranean island of Gozo (Malta).

Monsarrat's first three novels, published in 1934–1937 and now out of print, were realistic treatments of modern social problems informed by his leftist politics. His fourth novel and first major work, This Is The Schoolroom, took a different approach. The story of a young, idealistic, aspiring writer coming to grips with the "real world" for the first time, it is at least partly autobiographical.

The Cruel Sea (1951), Monsarrat's first postwar novel, is widely regarded as his finest work, and is the only one of his novels that is still widely read. Based on his own wartime service, it followed the young naval officer Keith Lockhart through a series of postings in corvettes and frigates. It was one of the first novels to depict life aboard the vital, but unglamorous, "small ships" of World War II—ships for which the sea was as much a threat as the Germans. Monsarrat's short-story collections H.M.S. Marlborough Will Enter Harbour (1949), and The Ship That Died of Shame (1959) mined the same literary vein, and gained popularity by association with The Cruel Sea.

The similar Three Corvettes (1945 and 1953) comprising H.M. Corvette (set aboard a Flower class corvette in the North Atlantic), East Coast Corvette (as First Lieutenant of HMS Guillemot) and Corvette Command (as Commanding Officer of HMS Shearwater) is actually an anthology of three true-experience stories he published during the war years and shows appropriate care for what the Censor might say. Thus Guillemot appears under the pseudonym Dipper and Shearwater under the pseudonym Winger in the book. H.M. Frigate is similar but deals with his time in command of two frigates. His use of the name Dipper could allude to his formative years when summer holidays were spent with his family at Trearddur Bay. They were members of the famous sailing club based there, and he recounted much of this part of his life in a book My brother Denys. Denys Monserrat was killed in Egypt during the middle part of the war whilst his brother was serving with the Royal Navy. Another tale recounts his bringing his ship into Trearddur Bay during the war for old times' sake.

Monsarrat's more famous novels, notably The Tribe That Lost Its Head (1956) and its sequel Richer Than All His Tribe (1968), drew on his experience in the diplomatic service and make important reference to the colonial experience of Britain in Africa.

Reviews

[Chris Wray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, I enjoyed this, but the quality of the stories varied somewhat. The first, eponymous, story describes the attempt to save a torpedoed sloop and get her back to harbour. The theme will be familiar to anyone who has read much Second World War maritime fiction, or naval fiction in general, and the story itself is very convincingly executed. Monserrat is quickly able to establish a depth of feeling for the crew and a sympathy for their plight, and as in many such stories, the Captain stands out as a central, almost godlike character.

The second story is Leave Cancelled, and this is where the wheels come off. It depicts a newly married couple whose honeymoon is curtailed to a single day before he is posted overseas. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy the story, felt nothing for the two characters, and found the whole thing a bit pointless.

Moving on, Heavy Rescue is the third and final story, and it is magnificent. It follows Goddard, a First World War veteran who pulls himself off the scrapheap of life to find new purpose as a member of an ARP rescue squad. It is both memorable and moving, and I thought it was the best of the three stories.

I enjoy Nicholas Monserrat as a writer and was close to giving this four stars, but felt I had to knock one off because one of the three stories was so poor. My recommendation would be to skip 'Leave Cancelled' and read the other two, which are worth your time.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

A series of short stories by Monsarrat.

The largest of them is the Marlborough story about a crippled corvette attempting to fight back and then make it back to a harbour.

The middle story is about a recently married couple in WW2. The soldier has been unexpectedly posted away & likely to be away for up to two years. HUGE age gap in the couple. He is 35 and his wife is only 19 yo. His leave is shortened to 24 hours. A drunken sailor called Monsarrat features in this.

The final story is about a heroic ARP warden. His wife & daughter don't appreciate him or respect the work he does. He was a DSM earned while fighting in the trenches in the first WW.

All stories are quite grim. I suppose they must have been written about the time of the war or just after.

[Davina · Rating 3 out of 5]

A handful of short stories, of various quality. The one where we spend most of our time inside the head of an older man with his young wartime bride, well, maybe it just doesn't translate well. The ship which worked so hard to stay afloat reminds me of his other works. It was interesting but not too memorable. The stories were pleasant. I don't regret reading them, but I wouldn't make extreme efforts to seek them out. Unless I missed something.

[Andrew Herbert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Monsarrat is an inconsistent story teller. This book embodies that. The first (titular) story is quite good. Dramatic and different from other WW2 British naval stories. The second story was poor. Perhaps we are too removed from that time. The last story was excellent and unique.

[Mark Luongo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three short stories, each tinged with courage and sadness. A heavily damaged sloop struggling to make port after a duel with a U-boat, a newly-wed couple facing the prospect of a long separation and a Great War veteran seeking purpose as a rescue worker in bomb ravaged London.
Well written.

[Tingelfurt · Rating 4 out of 5]

W

[Yak · Rating 5 out of 5]

I needed an engrossing paperback for the 2007 Thanksgiving train ride so I grabbed this one, a relic of my teenage interest in World War II England. The title story (there are three novellas in the book) is highly engrossing, the tale of a torpedoed ship limping back to port with most of the crew killed; the second, "Leave Cancelled," is interesting mostly as a dated attempt at getting inside a moment in a new marriage, written in the second person from husband to wife; the third, "Heavy Rescue," is an interesting account of life in London at the start of the Blitz as told from the point of view of an out-of-work WWI veteran who finds new meaning in training to rescue bombing victims. Monsarrat is an accomplished writer if you like this sort of subject matter.

[Chad Malone · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book very fast read and enjoyable; set during world war two. Spoiler Alert! The ship gets attacked by a German U boat. Its an interesting book if you are into reading about ships captains or things happening during war and a story of survival. I could see Tom Hanks doing this if it was to be a movie as the captain of course after all he has already been captain phillips and sully so why not this british guy?

[Edwin Yardley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic "true"story for an ex-matelot.

[David Flett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Evocative short stories.

[Elizabeth Dauncey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thrilling, keeps you interested all the way through.