Frederick Marryat Biography and List of Works

English naval officer and novelist whose adventure stories became very popular. Most of Marryat's books were based on his own experiences at sea. Tales of battles, storms, and shipwrecks had a realism and first-hand knowledge - he learned to write adventure stories by living a life, which reflected one.

"We are all of us variously gifted from Above, and he who is content to walk, instead of to run, on his allotted path through life, although he may not so rapidly attain the goal, has the advantage of not being out of breath upon his arrival."
(from Peter Simple, 1834)

Marryat was born in London. He was educated privately and in 1806 he entered the Royal Navy at the age of 14. He first sailed as a midshipman on H.M.S. Impérieuse under Captain Lord Cochrane (1806-09). "The Impérieuse sailed; the Admiral of the port was one who would be obeyed, but would not listen always to reason or common sense. The signal for sailing was enforced by gun after gun; the anchor was hove up, and, with all her stores on deck, her guns not even mounted, in a state of confusion unparalleled from her being obliged to hoist faster than it was possible she could stow away, she was driven out of harbour to encounter a heavy gale." Under Cochrane, whose gallantry left marks on Marryat's heroic characters, he cruised along the coast of France, and saw some active service in the Mediterranean. During his career at sea, Marryat served in many campaigns throughout the world. He served on the flagship Centaur in the Mediterranean in 1810, on the Aeolus and Spartan in the West Indies and off the coast of North America in 1811-12. In 1813 Marryat served in the West Indies on the Espiègle.

In 1814 Marryat was a lieutenant of the Newcastle, sailing off the coast of North America until invalided home in 1814. Next year he was appointed Commander, and cruised on the sloop Beaver off St. Helena to guard against the escape of Napoleon. After the death of the emperor he took a sketch of him in full profile, which was engraved in England and France. Marryat married Catherine Shairp in 1819; they had four sons and seven daughters, including the novelist Florence Marryat. In 1819 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, according to tradition on account of his skill in drawing caricatures.

Marryat was involved in the suppression of Channel smuggling in 1820-22. He then served in the First Burmese War and was in 1824 a Senior Naval Officer at Rangoon, and commanded an expedition up the Bassein River. In 1825 Marryat was appointed Captain of the Tees. He commanded Ariadne in the Atlantic service and retired in 1830 with a Captain's rank.

From 1832 to 1835 Marryat edited the Metropolitan Magazine, in which appeared several of his novels. In 1836 he lived in Brussels. After two years in Canada and the United States (1837-39), he recorded his impressions in A DIARY IN AMERICA (1839). From 1839 to 1843 he lived in London in a merry circle of literary friends, among them Clarkson Stanfield, Rogers, Dickens, and Forster. After a life at sea and publishing books, Marryat settled finally in Langham, Norfolk, where he spent his days farming and writing. His handwriting was so small that his copyreaders had to leave pins in his manuscripts when they stopped reading in order to find their place later.

During his last years Marryat had health problems and the news of his son's death destroyed his own chances of recovery. He died in Langham, Norfolk, on August 9, 1848. His daughter Florence Marryat (1838-1899) became a popular writer, and also worked as a lecturer, operatic singer and comedienne. In 1872 she published the Life and Letters of her father.

"I haven't the gift of the gab, my sons - because I'm bred to the sea."
(from The Old Navy)

Marryat's first novel, THE NAVAL OFFICER, appeared in 1829. Among his best-known works for adults are MR. MIDSHIPMAN EASY (1836), THE KING'S OWN (1830), NEWTON FORSTER (1832), PETER SIMPLE (1834), and JACOB FAITHFUL (1834). Although Marryat has been criticized for writing too much and too rapidly, his style has been praised for its lucidity and effectiveness.

In the 1840s Marryat turned to write children's books, starting from MASTERMAN READY (1841). The work was inspired by Johann Wyss' The Swiss Family Robinson (1812-13), and depicted with real authenticity the family Seagrave's life on a deserted island after a shipwreck. Other children's books included SETTLERS IN CANADA (1844), owing much to Cooper's stories of North American Indians, THE MISSION (1845), and THE CHILDREN OF THE NEW FOREST (1847), a historical novel set in the times of Cromwell and Civil War. The central characters are Royalists, but the Parliamentary superintendent and his daughter are portrayed with equal sympathy. His last novel, THE LITTLE SAVAGES (1848-49), also a Robinsonnade about a young boy and cruel sailor on a deserted island, was completed by Frank S. Marryat.

Marryat's works continued the great tradition of adventure stories, established by Defoe's Robinson Crusoe and extended especially by the historical novels of Scott and the Leatherstocking tales of Cooper. His influence on maritime writers has stretched from Kingston to Masefield and Peter Dawlish, and as a writer of contemporary adventure tales from Ballantyne to Ivan Southall.

"They ran close into the mouth of the stream, lowered the sails, and pulled the peroqua against the current, until they had advanced far enough to assure them that the water was quite fresh. The jars were soon filled, and they were again thinking of pushing off, when enticed by the beauty of the spot, the coolness of the fresh water, and wearied with their long confinement on board of the peroqua, they proposed to bathe - a luxury hardly to be appreciated by those who have not been in a similar situation."
(from The Phantom Ship, 1839)

For further reading: Life of Frederick Marryat by D. Hannay (1889); Excursions in Victorian bibliography by Michael Sadleir (1922); Captain Marryat: a rediscovery by Oliver Warner (1953); Captain Frederick Marryat, l'homme et l'oeuvre, etc. by Maurice Paul Gautier (1973); Captain Marryat by Alan Buster (1980) - See also: classic Western writers: Louis L´Amour, Zane Grey, Owen Wister and classic sea adventures: Herman Melville, C.S. Forester - Note: Marryat was among the first eminent literary visitors of Toronto by 1837. He was later followed by Charles Dickens (1842), Mark Twain, Henry James and Arthur Conan Doyle. Torontonians began also gradually to acquire literary fame: Robert Barr, Ernest Thompson Seton, Morley Callaghan, and Mazo de la Roche. - From the 1960s into eighties emerged Margaret Atwood, Timothy Findley, David French, Michael Ondaatje, Judith Thomson, Richard Wright. Robertson Davies (1913-1995) was between 1962 and 1980 Master of Massey College at the University of Toronto (see: The Atlas of Literature, ed. by Malcolm Bradbury, 1996)

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE ABOLITION OF OF THE PRESENT SYSTEM OF IMPRESSMENT IN THE NAVAL SERVICE, (1822)