Captain Marryat

Captain Frederick Marryat (10 July 1792 – 9 August 1848) was a Royal Navy officer and novelist. He is noted today as an early pioneer of nautical fiction, particularly for his semi-autobiographical novel ''Mr Midshipman Easy'' (1836). He is remembered also for his children's novel ''The Children of the New Forest'' (1847). In addition, he developed a widely used system of maritime flag signalling, known as Marryat's Code.

Early life and naval career

Marryat was born at Great George Street in Westminster, London. His father was Joseph Marryat, a "merchant prince" and member of Parliament, as well as slave owner and anti-abolitionist, and his mother was Charlotte, ''née'' von Geyer.J. K. Laughton, "Marryat, Frederick (1792–1848)", rev. Andrew Lambert, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford, UK: OUP, 2004
Retrieved 2 January 2016.
A daughter of Frederick Geyer of Boston and his wife, Charlotte Marryatt was one of the first women admitted to membership of the Royal Horticultural Society. She died in 1854. As a youth, Marryat tried to run away to sea several times before he was permitted to enter the Royal Navy in 1806 as a midshipman aboard , a frigate commanded by Lord Cochrane, who later served as inspiration for 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 capture of the castle of Montgat. The ''Imperieuse'' shifted to operations in the Scheldt in 1809, where Marryat contracted malaria; he returned to England on the 74-gun HMS ''Victorious''. After recuperating, he returned to the Mediterranean in the 74-gun HMS ''Centaur'' and again saved a shipmate by leaping into the sea after him. He sailed as a passenger to Bermuda in the 64-gun HMS ''Atlas'', and from there to Halifax, Nova Scotia on the schooner HMS ''Chubb'', where he joined the 32-gun frigate HMS ''Aeolus'' on 27 April 1811.

A few months later, Marryat earned distinction again by leading the effort to cut away the ''Aeolus'' mainyard to save the ship during a storm. He saved one of the crew from the sea. Shortly after, he moved to the frigate HMS ''Spartan'', participating in the capture of a number of American ships during the War of 1812. On 26 December 1812, he was promoted to lieutenant, and as such served in the sloop HMS ''Espiegle'' and in . Marryat led four barges from the ''Newcastle'' on a raid against Orleans, Massachusetts on 19 December 1814, the last combat in New England during the war. Though initially, Marryat cut out an American schooner and three sloops, he managed to escape with just one sloop. The local militia avoided casualties while killing one Royal marine. Marryat was promoted to commander on 13 June 1815, just as the war ended.

After the war

Marryat turned to scientific studies after the war. He invented a lifeboat, which earned him a gold medal from the Royal Humane Society and the nickname "Lifeboat". He developed a practical, widely used system of maritime flag signalling, known as Marryat's Code, based on his experience in the Napoleonic Wars escorting merchant ships in convoys. He also described a new gastropod genus '' Cyclostrema'' with the type species '' Cyclostrema cancellatum''.

In 1819, Marryat married Catherine Shairp. They had four sons and seven daughters together, including Florence, a prolific novelist; Emilia, who became a writer of moralist adventure novels in her father's vein and wrote a biography of him; and Augusta, who also wrote adventure fiction.

In 1820, Marryat commanded the sloop HMS ''Beaver'' and temporarily commanded HMS ''Rosario'' in order to carry despatches to England announcing the death of Napoleon on Saint Helena. He also took the opportunity to make a sketch of Napoleon's body on his deathbed; this was later published as a lithograph. His artistic skills were modest, but he made numerous sketches of shipboard life above and below deck.

In 1823, Marryat was appointed to HMS ''Larne'' and took part in an expedition against Burma in 1824, which resulted in large losses from disease. He was promoted to command the 28-gun HMS ''Tees'', which gave him the rank of post-captain. By 1826 he was back in England and that year donated two Burmese artifacts to the British Museum, in an unsuccessful effort to be selected as a trustee. In 1829, he was commanding the frigate HMS ''Ariadne'' on a search for shoals around the Madeira and Canary Islands. This was an uninspiring exercise. As his first novel ''The Naval Officer'' had just been published, 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''. Additionally, he kept writing novels; his biggest success came with ''Mr Midshipman Easy'' in 1836. He lived in Brussels for a year, travelled in Canada and the United States, and 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 rebellion broke out in Lower Canada, and served with the expeditionary force sent to suppress it.

Marryat was named a Fellow of the Royal Society in recognition of his lifeboat, signals system and other achievements. In 1843, he moved to a farm at Manor Cottage, Langham in Norfolk. He died there in 1848. His daughter Florence Marryat later became known as a writer and actress. His son Francis Samuel Marryat completed his father's last novel, ''The Little Savage''.

Marryat's novels are typical of their time, with concerns of family connections and social status often overshadowing the naval action. He based much of his fiction on his 25 years' experience at sea. Among those who admired his works were Mark Twain, Joseph Conrad, and Ernest Hemingway. As the first nautical novels, they served as models for 20th century works by C. S. Forester and Patrick O'Brian. These also were set in the time of Nelson and told of young men rising through the ranks due to their successes as naval officers.

Marryat was also known for short writings on nautical subjects. These short stories, plays, pieces of travel journalism, and essays were published in ''The Metropolitan Magazine'', and many were later collected in book form as ''Olla Podrida''.

Marryat's 1839 Gothic novel ''The Phantom Ship'' contained "The White Wolf of the Hartz Mountains". This featured the first female werewolf to appear in a short story.

In 1839, Marryat also published his ''Diary in America'', a travelogue that reflects his criticisms of American culture and society. The book and the author were both subject to acts of violence. The book and Marryat's effigy were each burned in public.

Controversy arose among Marryat's readers. Some criticized him for careless writing, others admired his vivacity about life at sea. His later novels were generally for the children's market, including his most famous novel today: ''The Children of the New Forest'', published in 1847 and set in the countryside round the village of Sway, Hampshire.

The works of Marryat are considered by the maritime historians of today to be a reliable source on the operation and characteristics of the sailing vessels of his time.

Works

Family connections

Marryat's niece Augusta Sophia Marryat married Sir Henry Young, who served as Governor of South Australia and Tasmania. A suburb, Marryatville, and the town of Port Augusta were named after her. Augusta's brother Charles Marryat was the first Anglican Dean of Adelaide.

References

Further reading

* David Hannay,
Life of Marryat
' (1889)
*Florence Marryat,
Life and Letters
' (1872)
* Tom Pocock, ''Captain Marryat: Seaman, Writer and Adventurer'' (2000)
* Oliver Warner,
Captain Marryat: a Rediscovery
' (1953)

External links

Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
*
*
*
*
Free ebooks of Marryat books optimised for printing at home, plus short Marryat bibliographyLink to National Portrait Gallery, LondonBuddha statue donated by Captain Marryat to British Museum
*
*
Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library
Emory University
Frederick Marryat papers, 1830-1842

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marryat, Frederick
1792 births
1848 deaths
English children's writers
19th-century English novelists
Royal Navy captains
Maritime writers
English historical novelists
Nautical historical novelists
Fellows of the Royal Society
Royal Navy personnel of the War of 1812
Royal Navy personnel of the Napoleonic Wars
Royal Navy personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars
English male novelists
Victorian novelists
Writers from the City of Westminster
Companions of the Order of the Bath
Writers of Gothic fiction
Writers of historical fiction set in the early modern period
19th-century English short story writers
English male short story writers
English travel writers
19th-century English dramatists and playwrights
English male dramatists and playwrights
19th-century English essayists