Frederick Marryat

Frederick Marryat
Portrait by John Simpson, 1826
Born	10 July 1792(1792-07-10) Westminster, London, England
Died	9 August 1848(1848-08-09) (aged 56) Langham, Norfolk, England
Occupation	Navy officer, Writer (novelist)
Nationality	English
Period	19th century
Genres	Children's Literature

Captain Frederick Marryat (10 July 1792 – 9 August 1848) was an English Royal Navy officer, novelist, and a contemporary and acquaintance of Charles Dickens, noted today as an early pioneer of the sea story. He is now known particularly for the semi-autobiographical novel Mr Midshipman Easy and his children's novel The Children of the New Forest, and for a widely used system of maritime flag signalling, known as Marryat's Code.

Early life and naval career

Marryat was born in London, the son of Joseph Marryat, a "merchant prince" and member of Parliament. After trying to run away to sea several times, he was permitted to enter the Royal Navy in 1806, as a midshipman on board frigate commanded by Lord Cochrane (who would later serve as inspiration for both Marryat and other authors).

Marryat's time aboard the Imperieuse included action off the Gironde, the rescue of a fellow midshipman who had fallen overboard, captures of many ships off the Mediterranean coast of Spain, and the capture of the castle of Montgat. When the Imperieuse shifted to operations in the Scheldt, in 1809, Marryat contracted malaria, and returned to England on HMS Victorious, 74 guns.

After recuperating, Marryat returned to the Mediterranean in HMS Centaur, 74, and again saved a shipmate by leaping into the sea after him. He then sailed as a passenger to Bermuda in HMS Atlas, 64 guns, and from thence to Halifax, Nova Scotia on the schooner Chubb, to join the frigate HMS Aeolus of 32 guns (27 April 1811).

A few months later, Marryat again earned distinction by leading the effort to cut away the Aeolus' mainyard to save the ship during a storm, and continuing a pattern, he also saved one of the men from the sea. Shortly thereafter, he moved to the frigate HMS Spartan, participating in the capture of a number of American ships (the War of 1812 having begun by then), and on 26 December 1812 was promoted to lieutenant.

As lieutenant, Marryat served in the sloop Espiegle and in the Newcastle, and was promoted to commander 13 June 1815, just in time for peace to break out. He then pursued scientific studies, invented a lifeboat (thus earning both a gold medal from the Royal Humane Society and the nickname 'Lifeboat'). Based on his experience in the Napoleonic Wars escorting merchant ships in convoys, he developed a practical and widely used system of maritime flag signalling known as Marryat's Code.

In 1819 he married Catherine Shairp, with whom he had four sons (of which only the youngest, Frank, outlived him) and seven daughters (including Florence, his biographer).

In 1820 he commanded the sloop Beaver and temporarily commanded Rosario for the purpose of bringing back to England the despatches announcing the death of Napoleon I on St Helena. He also took the opportunity to make a sketch of Napoleon's body on his deathbed, which was later published as a lithograph. (Marryat's artistic skills were modest, but his sketches of shipboard life above and below deck have considerable charm that overcomes their crudities.)^[1]

In 1823 he was appointed to Burma in 1824. During this expedition, which resulted in large losses due to disease, he was promoted to command post captain rank. He was back in England in 1826. In 1829 he was commanding the frigate shoals around the Madeira and Canary Islands. This was an uninspiring exercise, and between that and the recent publication of his first novel, The Naval Officer, he decided to resign his commission in November 1830 and take up writing full time.

Literary career

From 1832 to 1835 Marryat edited The Metropolitan Magazine.^[2] He kept producing novels, with his biggest success, Mr Midshipman Easy, coming in 1836. He lived in Brussels for a year, travelled in Canada and the United States, then moved to London in 1839, where he was in the literary circle of Charles Dickens and others. He was in North America in 1837 when the Rebellion of that year in Lower Canada broke out, and served with the British forces in suppressing it.

He was named a Fellow of the Royal Society in recognition of his invention and other achievements. In 1843 he moved to a small farm at Manor Cottage in Norfolk, where he died in 1848. His daughter Florence Marryat later became well-known as a writer and actress. His son Francis Samuel Marryat completed his late novel The Little Savage.^[3]

Marryat's novels are characteristic of their time, with the concerns of family connections and social status often overshadowing the naval action, but they are interesting as fictional renditions of the author's 25 years of real-life experience at sea. These novels, much admired by Joseph Conrad and Ernest Hemingway, were among the first sea novels. They were models for later works by C. S. Forester and Patrick O'Brian that were also set in the time of Nelson and told the stories of young men rising through the ranks through successes as naval officers.

His later novels were generally for the children's market, including his most famous novel for contemporary readers, The Children of the New Forest, which was published in 1847 and set in the countryside surrounding the village of Sway, Hampshire.

Works

Photograph of Marryat

• The Naval Officer, or Scenes in the Life and Adventures of Frank Mildmay (1829)
• The King's Own (1830)
• Newton Forster or, the Merchant Service (1832)
• Peter Simple (1834)
• Jacob Faithful (1834)
• The Pacha of Many Tales (1835)
• Mr Midshipman Easy (1836)
• Japhet, in Search of a Father (1836)
• The Pirate (1836)
• The Three Cutters (1836)
• Snarleyyow, or the Dog Fiend (1837)
• Rattlin the Reefer (with Edward Howard) (1838)
• The Phantom Ship (1839)
• Diary in America (1839)
• Olla Podrida (1840)
• Poor Jack (1840)
• Masterman Ready, or the Wreck of the Pacific (1841)
• Joseph Rushbrook, or the Poacher (1841)
• Percival Keene (1842)
• Monsieur Violet (1843)
• Settlers in Canada (1844)
• The Mission, or Scenes in Africa (1845)
• The Privateersman, or One Hundred Years Ago (1846)
• The Children of the New Forest (1847)
• The Little Savage (posthumous, 1848)
• Valerie (posthumous, 1848)

Notes

1. ^ National Maritime Museum (UK), Capt. Marryat's framed and original sketch of Napoleon Bonaparte after his death at St Helena
2. ^ J. K. Laughton, ‘Marryat, Frederick (1792–1848)’, rev. Andrew Lambert, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 2006, accessed 4 Jan 2008
3. ^ http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/fmarryat.htm

References

• David Hannay, Life of Marryat (1889)
• Florence Marryat, Life and Letters (1872)
• Oliver Warner, Captain Marryat: a Rediscovery (1953)

External links

• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
• Works by or about Frederick Marryat at Internet Archive (scanned books original editions color illustrated)
• Works by Frederick Marryat at Project Gutenberg (plain text and HTML)
• Free ebooks of Marryat books optimised for printing at home, plus short Marryat bibliography
• Link to National Portrait Gallery, London
• Works by or about Frederick Marryat in libraries (WorldCat catalog)

Persondata
Name	Marryat, Frederick
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	10 July 1792
Place of birth	London, UK
Date of death	9 August 1848
Place of death	Norfolk, England