CRUEL SEA, THE 71
three years on the water, the Compass Rose falls victim to a torpedo attack and sinks.
Forced to abandon ship, most of the crew drown or die from hypothermia. Taking
to a couple of rubber life rafts, Ericson survives along with Lockhart and a few
sailors. Ericson is promoted to commander, and with Lockhart as his first officer,
takes command of the HMS Saltash Castle. With Ericson leading an anti- submarine
escort group they continue their escort duties. Late in the war, while serving with
the Arctic convoys, they track and ultimately destroy U-53 [a U- boat actually sunk
by Tribal- class destroyer HMS Gurkha on 23 February 1940 with the loss of all 42
hands]. As the war ends in May 1945 Saltash Castle returns to port, sailing past the
surrendered but still formidable U- boat fleet, prompting Ericson to reflect on
the fact that his commands were only able to sink two enemy subs over a more than
five- year period.
Reception
Released in the UK on 26 March 1953, The Cruel Sea was the most successful movie
at the British box office that year and made Jack Hawkins a genuine movie star with
British audiences. It also earned £215,000 in the United States, a high figure for
British movies at the time. The film garnered three BAFTA nominations and one
Oscar nomination, and reviews were positive. For example, the anonymous reviewer
for The Times wrote, “Ealing Studios have translated Nicholas Monsarrat’s The Cruel
Sea into a fine film—[as] thrilling and au then tic as the book which has excited
nearly 4,000,000 readers in 18 months... tells a moving story without embellish-
ment or blarney” (25 March 1953). Alexander Walker acknowledged the film’s
authenticity but felt it lacked dramatic impact. In his view it was “professionally
executed but short on intensity, emotion and the cruelty of the sea, which is termed
the villain of this piece” (Walker, 11 August 1953).
Reel History Versus Real History
The general consensus by Royal Navy WWII veterans and historians is that The
Cruel Sea, though fictional in terms of the specific events it portrays, is a very cred-
ible depiction of life on British convoy- escorts during the Second World War. The
film captures, with understated realism, the harsh living conditions on board these
cramped vessels, the often horrendous weather, the endless tedium of war patrols,
and the stark terror of battle.