An excellent tale of the sea, based on the author's own experiences as a junior rating on the lower deck of one of HM Destroyers in the Second World War. A journalist, J P W Mallalieu captures the essence f the lower deck in wartime - it was a rough life, the men deserving of their daily tot of rum (if age 20+) and of the additional small daily payment of Hard Lying Money. He was later commissioned and left the Royal Navy, in 1945, as a Lieutenant. Elected to Parliament in 1945 as Labour MP for Huddersfield, he was Navy Minister in Harold Wilson's government 1964-67. Born 1908, Sir William Mallalieu died in 1980. ( )

This is a novel of such realism that I was under the impression for several decades that it was a memoir, and not a piece of fiction. While the prose was not vivid, the total effect is striking. I understand that the author, a some-time British Labour MP, did rely on his own memories quite heavily. The book is a gripping read, and should be better known. ( )