Monsarrat, Nicholas John Turney (1910–1979)

English novelist. He served with the navy in the Battle of the Atlantic, the subject of his most successful novel The Cruel Sea 1951. Other novels with strong plots include The Story of Esther Costello 1953, The Tribe that Lost its Head 1956, and The Kapillan of Malta 1973.

Born in Liverpool, he was educated at Winchester and Cambridge University, where he studied law. His early novels were followed by a series of non-fiction books beginning with H M Corvette 1942, relating his experiences as a naval officer during World War II. Later works include the novels The White Rajah 1961 and The Pillow Fight 1965, and a two-volume autobiography, Life is a Four-Letter Word 1966, 1970.