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Three Corvettes (Paperback)

by Nicholas Monsarrat (Author) "IT STARTED WITH PADDLING, IN THE SMALL YEARS OF 1912, when I was two, and so beautiful (according to a fond or myopic mother) that..." (more)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Phoenix; New edition edition (30 Mar 2000)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0304354449
  • ISBN-13: 978-0304354443
  • Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 13 x 2.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 282,067 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #13 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > M > Monsarrat, Nicholas
    #82 in  Books > Fiction > Genre > War > Second World War

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Product Description

Product Description

This is how the war at sea really was By the author of The Cruel Sea Includes some of the most dramatic literature of the sea ever written Nicholas Monsarrat: one of the finest writers of his generation


About the Author

See description above. After the war, Monsarrat's career as diplomat and novelist took every twist and turn in the book. He died of cancer in 1979 and was buried at sea from a destroyer, off Portsmouth.
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First Sentence
IT STARTED WITH PADDLING, IN THE SMALL YEARS OF 1912, when I was two, and so beautiful (according to a fond or myopic mother) that I would never reach maturity. Read the first page
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2 Reviews
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28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars An enthralling account of life and death in the WW2 convoys, 18 Jul 2000
By A Customer
This book was written prior to the more famous 'Cruel Sea' (which I have not read (yet!)).Interestingly most of the book was written and published during WW2. Three Corvettes is actually a collection of Nicholas Montserrat's work but is no less for this. Three corvettes is a factual account of the authors time on corvettes firstly in the Atlantic convoys and then in the East Coast convoys. It is beautifully written. I went to bed that night with the smell of the sea, the swell of the Atlantic and the fear of the torpedo. After reading this account my utmost admiration went out to the relatively unsung bravery of the Merchant Seamen. The other articles in the book include an account of the tragic sinking of the Lancastria with approximately 4000 passengers trying to evacuate from France. This was actually hushed by Churchill during WW2.Also covered are Dunkirk and the return of a crippled ship to port after being torpedoed. The collection includes 'The Ship that died of Shame' later a black and white film about a MTB boat which is converted for smuggling after the war. I will however remember this book for its frightening account of the convoy war and I look forward to reading the cruel sea.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars The reality of WW2 Naval life in a small fighting ship, 16 Dec 2008
By R. F. Stevens "richard23491" (Ickenham UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)      
This review is from: Three Corvettes (Paperback)
I came across this gem on holiday recently while staying in a chambre d'hote, and found it to be riveting bed-time reading. I've owned a copy of The Cruel Sea since the seventies, but this is altogether more realistic.

Three Corvettes is actually a collection of three short autobiographical accounts of Monsarrat's experience serving on a corvette and is based on his diaries. Each piece was published separately at the time of writing, because, like many others, he was expecting to be killed the next time he went out on duty.

The structure, strengths and weaknesses of British WW2 Naval command are made all too clear, and the book makes one realise how lucky Britain was to win the war.

My eyes were opened wide regarding the duties of the different ranks, how the watches were organised, how the responsibilities were assigned, how the team functioned. If I were to write a novel or film about life on a small fighting ship, this would make excellent background reference material, far more revealing than any dry official manuals of ranks and standing orders.

I found the moralising somewhat overlong, hence only four stars, but this also serves to emphasise just how much the Services went through, and why they continued to do what they did with such dedication and heroism.
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