Captain Frederick Marryat

Robert Clark (The Literary Encyclopedia)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.06: English Writing and Culture of the Romantic Period, 1789-1837.
Vol. editors: Robert Clark (The Literary Encyclopedia), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Daniel Robinson (Widener University), Emily Rohrbach (University of Durham)

Dates

Born 10 Jul 1792
Died 9 Aug 1848
Activity 1812-1848

Places

Born in England
Active in England

Activities

Primary

Military commander
Novelist

Other

Mariner/ Navigator/ Seaman

Resources

Captain Frederick Marryat is known today as the inventor of the adventurous, military maritime novel. Sixty years ago, his name was known to any literate reader of English since his novels had shaped the imaginations of nearly all English readers for at least a hundred years after 1840, especially those who went on to write novels of adventure. Later exponents of the genre include R.M. Ballantyne (1825-94) whose most famous work is The Coral Island: A Tale of the Pacific Ocean (1858), C. S. Forester (1899-1966) with his Hornblower novels (1937-67), Patrick O’Brian (1914-2000) notably with his Master and Commander (1989), and William Golding (1911-1993) with his sea-trilogy To the Ends of the Earth comprising Close Quarters (1987), Fire Down Below (1989) and Rites of Passage (1990).

The most famous admirer of Marryat was Joseph...

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4772 words

Citation: Clark, Robert. "Captain Frederick Marryat". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 28 July 2019 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2949, accessed 09 June 2026.]

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