ALEXANDER FULLERTON novels

SURFACE

Blurbs

THIS is an intensely exciting novel of the crew in a British submarine serving in Asiatic waters towards the end of the last war.

It is probably true to say that of all the professions open to men the one least envied by the rest of mankind is the job of serving in a submarine. Least envied : but almost universally greatly admired. It's a job that someone has to do ; and it's fortunate for this country that there is no shortage of men of courage. For surely the maximum courage is essential in each member of the crew that has to face all the known and unknown dangers that lie in wait for them as they disappear from the light of day.

This is the story of His Majesty's Submarine SEAHOUND. On routine and on special operations : boarding Chinese junks ; creeping through minefields ; engaging a Japanese cruiser ; evading depth charges ; returning to port in Ceylon and the Depot Ship ; off again into action with half a dozen soldiers on board . . . the reader shares—at times with almost painful intensity—the anxieties of Captain, of Number One, of Sub, of Chiefy, and of a number of Able Seamen, as they face the many varied hazards that come their way.

The story is the product of the author's imagination. But it is a story based on firsthand experiences, as Alexander Fullerton has spent a number of years as a submarine officer.

The author

Alexander Fullerton is well-qualified to write novels with a naval background; he comes from a naval family, and went to the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth at the age of 13 in 1937. He went to sea as a midshipman at the end of 1941, serving first in the Mediterranean — in the battleship Queen Elizabeth, cruiser Orion and destroyer Hero, before joining submarines at Malta — and later in the North Sea and Far East; he ended the war as a lieutenant with a mention-indespatches for distinguished service. He resigned from the navy in 1949, and worked for ten years in South Africa. During this period, he had his first novel published — SURFACE! — based on his experience as gunnery and torpedo officer on the submarine Seadog. SURFACE! has so far sold nearly a million copies around the world. Since his return to England in 1958, he has published other kinds of fiction — including the novels CHIEF EXECUTIVE, THE PUBLISHER and OTHER MEN'S WIVES — but is now `back at sea' for good.