The Master Mariner

The Master Mariner #Omnibus 1-2

by Nicholas Monsarrat

This is Nicholas Monsarrat’s final masterpiece, an epic tale of the sea and seafaring from the sixteenth century to near the end of the twentieth.

Told from the point of view of Mathew Lawe, a young Devon sailor who is cursed after a spectacular act of cowardice to wander ‘the wild waters till all the seas run dry’, it is historical fiction but beset by real events. Monsarrat follows the great captains and naval adventurers from the Artic to the South Pacific. Lawe represents the spirit of maritime exploration and fortitude; his life is the thread stringing together a long history of nautical adventure.

He finds himself mixed up with Drake and the Armada; sailing with Hudson in search of the North-West passage; a buccaneer under Sir Henry Morgan in the Caribbean; assisting Samuel Pepys with his responsibilities as Secretary to the Navy; at the side of Captain Cook as he transports General Wolf to the storming of Quebec, and then on to his death in the Pacific; serving in Nelson’s household and then to the Nile, Naples and Trafalgar; working on a slaver from Liverpool to the Caribbean; press-ganged aboard the Shannon just before her duel with the American Chesapeake, exploring the Artic with Sir John Franklin; fighting in both world wars, including the action at Zebrugge and ‘D’ Day; before a final test with a tanker catching fire after the opening of the St.Lawrence Seaway – and much more besides!

Under sail and steam, as Mathew’s eternal existence progresses, the action-packed novel is both highly entertaining and instructive and has been widely acclaimed as a masterpiece. Some fourteen true maps, along with other diagrams, are included, and what was originally two volumes is supplied as one.



‘… this huge, action packed volume can be recommended to anyone’ – Sunday Times

‘He has never written anything to compare with this work – it is a masterstroke’ – Manchester Evening News

‘No one can bring alive the cruel sea and the valiant men who have sailed on it through all the generations like Monsarrat’ – Daily Mail

‘This is Monsarrat, master storyteller, running proud’ – The Scotsman

Note: Nicholas Monsarrat died before Book II was finished. Anne Monsarrat completed the remainder of the story in Nicholas's own words, partly from some working notes he left and partly from his original synopsis of The Master Mariner Book II. Both are included here.

Genres: Historical Fiction

991 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 4, 2012

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

[Paul Cornelius · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nicholas Monsarrat's last (and unfinished) work tells the story of Matthew Lawe who is present at the naval battle with Spain's Armada in 1588. An act of cowardice condemns the young sailor to a life without end until he can redeem himself. The remainder of the book touches upon great naval battles, explorations, and engagements. It includes personages such as Sir Francis Drake, Henry Morgan, Samuel Pepys, James Wolfe, James Cook, and Horatio Nelson. He also meets scores of men whose stories are unknown and only take on significance when seen as part of the historical landscape.

More than nine-tenths of the way through this combined volume, Monsarrat's work comes to a sudden end. He died before he could finish it. What remains with the other eight to nine percent is a rather detailed outline of how the book would have finished. Eventually, it has the slowly aging Lawe put in a position to prove his courage and save himself from the run of eternity.

Interesting, in this second part, are the people who would have formed the core of story in their encounters with Lawe. They include Herman Melville and Joseph Conrad. A taste of their story in the outline is tantalizing. Monsarrat could easily have written another five or six hundred pages. I wish he had had the time. Unlike Matthew Lawe, he ran out of it.

[Pete · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read these books as a boy when they came out (1979 & 1981 respectively). I still have my dad's original first editions.
I loved Monsarrat work from when I first watched 'The Cruel Sea' & even used his writing style for my High school exam essays.
The books are a rollercoaster ride through nautical history with many famous characters making appearances.
Master Mariner book 1 (Running Proud) takes our anti-hero, Matthew Lawe, from being cursed to live forever for his cowardice during the Spanish Armada; through Hudsons attempt to find the North West Passage; piracy alongside Henry Morgan; Secretary to Samuel Pepys; fishing off the Grand Banks; back to the Royal Navy alongside Captain Cook; finally being a friend to Nelson & being at his side during Trafalgar. All the way through Lawe's courage fails at the last moment continuing his curse.
Book 2 (Darken Ship) is the unfinished novel as Monsarrat died before completing it in 1979. He did, fortunately, leave his notes so the story can be pieced together. Lawe is thrust into the dark world of transporting slaves as Captain of a slaver. From there he falls back to being a 'pressed man' during the Anglo American war of 1812; then on to Tea Clippers (where he meets Herman Melville); searching for the North West Passage (again) this time with Franklin; through the change from sail to steam; both World Wars before eventually finding his peace on a ship in the St Lawrence Seaway.

[Simon Mcleish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Epic tale of British maritime history, sadly unfinished. Matthew Lawe, sailor with Sir Francis Drake, is condemned to roam the season, immortal, until he redeems an act of cowardice. The story follows Lawe through famous and infamous events through to the QE2 in the twentieth century. Intended to be two volumes, this omnibus brings together the complete first volume, the full written parts of the second volume, and Montserrat's notes for the remainder, including Matthew's redemption.

A fascinating story, even, I think, to people with a limited interest in maritime history.