''Poor Jack'' is a novel by the English author

Frederick 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 ...

, published in 1840.

Plot

It tells the story of Thomas Saunders, a sailor's son and neglected street urchin struggling to survive in Greenwich, London in the early 19th century. ("Poor Jack" was the title given by the waterfront boys, or

mudlark A mudlark is someone who scavenges the banks and shores of rivers for items of value, a term used especially to describe those who scavenged this way in London during the late 18th and 19th centuries. The practice of searching the banks of ri ...

s, to their chief.) In a rags-to-riches story Saunders eventually rises by his own efforts to become a pilot on the Thames, makes his fortune and retires to the life of a wealthy squire. The novel has interesting descriptions of domestic life among the naval lower ranks and contains many anecdotes of seafaring life.

References

External links

*
Poor Jack
' at

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1840 British novels English novels 1840s children's books Jack tales Novels set during the Napoleonic Wars Novels by Frederick Marryat Novels set in London Children's books set in London Children's books set in the 19th century {{1840s-war-novel-stub