Author. A native of Liverpool, England, his best known work was his 1951 novel, "The Cruel Sea." The novel, considered to be one of his finest works, was turned into a film in 1953, starring Jack Hawkins and Denholm Elliott. Educated at Winchester and Trinity College in Cambridge, England, Monsarrat was inspired to practice law, but turned to writing instead. In 1934, he moved to London, England, to devote his time time to writing. He worked first as a freelance writer for several newspapers, before gradually starting to write novels. At the outbreak of World War II, Monsarrat joined the ambulance brigade and then the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve, first as a sub-lieutenant and then as a Lieutenant-Commander, by the time the war was over. After the war, he entered diplomatic service and served at posts in Johannesburg, South Africa, as the Director of the United Kingdom Information, from 1946 to 1953, and in Ottawa, Ontario, as Chairman of the National War Memorial Health Foundation of South Africa, from 1953 to 1956. He retired from diplomatic service in 1959, to continue writing full time. Monsarrat's other works include, "H.M.S. Marlborough Will Enter Harbour" (1949), "Three Corvettes" (1953), "The Tribe That Lost It's Head" (1956), "The Ship That Died Of Shame" (1959), "The Nylon Pirates" (1960), "A Fair Day's Work" (1964), "Richer Than All His Tribe" (1968), and his last work which was unfinished at the time of his death, "The Master Mariner." His honors include the Heinemann Foundation Prize For Literature in 1951, the Coronation Medal in 1953, and being made a member of the Chevalier of the Sovereign Order of St. John of Jerusalem in 1973. Monsarrat died from cancer in 1979, and at his request his ashes were scattered at sea by the Royal Navy.