Tower and Town, June 2017 (view the full edition)HMS Marlborough Will Enter HarbourThe Literary Connection and Nicolas Monserrat At 80 pages 'HMS Marlborough Will Enter Harbour' is either a very short novel or quite a long short story. Sloops were rather similar to destroyers, with less speed but longer range. They were designed as convoy escort vessels. Alexander Kirk-Wilson |
It was published in 1947 but shortly afterwards was overshadowed by 'The Cruel Sea' which tells a somewhat similar story. This concerns a convoy escort sloop in the North Atlantic, where Monserrat served in the RNVR; she is badly damaged by a torpedo and subsequent shellfire; many of her crew are killed, but against the odds she limps back to Londonderry.