Nicholas Monsarrat was born in Liverpool in 1910, and was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. He served in World War II, first as a member of an ambulance brigade and then as a member of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. His lifelong love of sailing made him a capable naval officer, and he served with distinction on a series of small warships. Resigning his wartime commission in 1946, Monsarrat entered the diplomatic service. He turned to writing full time in 1959, settling on the Mediterranean island of Gozo. He died of cancer in 1979 and was buried at sea from a destroyer, off Portsmouth.