Surgeon-Commander Brooks, “Old Socrates”.

Captain Richard Vallery, dying of TB who nonetheless, heroically, rallies the crew and leads by example until he finally, inevitably, dies, his last thoughts for the crew.

Vice-Admiral Tyndall, formerly known as Farmer Giles, now exhausted and disillusioned, who breaks down after making a series of disastrous miscalculations about the attacking German ships and U-boats returns to the bridge in his pyjamas and soon after dies of frostbite and shock.

The novel a) introduces us to a large set of characters among the ship’s crew b) describes the events of the ill-fated convoy FR77 as it battles a massive storm, the routine horrors of the freezing Arctic weather, and repeated attacks by German ships and the terrifying U-boats. With 24 hours they are putting back to see as part of a convoy – FR77 – linking up with a pack of merchantmen carrying vital supplies to the beleaguered USSR. This scene sets the atmosphere of absolute mental and physical exhaustion combined with stress and nervous tension under which these men operated. (Wikipedia)įrom the first words the tone is one of immense weariness as Admiral Starr confronts the captain and senior officers of HMS Ulysses to demand an explanation for the full scale mutiny which broke out in Scapa Flow harbour. After the Japanese surrender, Royalist helped evacuate liberated POWs from Changi Prison in Singapore. In 1945, in the Far East theatre, MacLean and Royalist saw action escorting carrier groups in operations against Japanese targets in Burma, Malaya, and Sumatra. In 1944 he and the ship served in the Mediterranean theatre as part of the invasion of southern France and in helping to sink blockade runners off Crete and bombard Milos in the Aegean. In Royalist he saw action in 1943 in the Atlantic theatre, on two Arctic convoys and escorting carrier groups in operations against Tirpitz and other targets off the Norwegian coast. From 1943, he served in HMS Royalist, a Dido-class light cruiser. He was first assigned to PS Bournemouth Queen, a converted excursion ship fitted for anti-aircraft guns, on duty off the coasts of England and Scotland. He joined the Royal Navy in 1941, serving with the ranks of Ordinary Seaman, Able Seaman, and Leading Torpedo Operator. MacLean, born 1922 and so 17 when the war started, had himself served on these convoys during the War. It describes the ordeal of a ship on one of the notorious Murmansk conveys, taking oil, weapons, supplies to beleaguered USSR up over the top of Scandianavia, through the Arctic Ocean in one of the most pitiless and harsh environments known to man. HMS Ulysses was Maclean’s first and arguably best novel.

Hms ulysses by alistair maclean