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marryat92 · 27 days
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If you whistle long enough the wind is certain to come. In about an hour the breeze did come, and we took it down with us; but it was too dark to distinguish the schooner, which we had lost sight of as soon as the sun had set.
— Frederick Marryat, Jacob Faithful
A brig-schooner at sea, from the sketchbook of D. Tandy c. 1798-1805.
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marryat92 · 28 days
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The first-lieutenant was a stern, but not unkind man; he would blow you up, as we termed it, when he scolded, for half an hour without ceasing. I never knew a man with such a flow of words; but if permitted to go on without interruption, he was content, without proceeding to further punishment. Any want of respect, however, was peculiarly offensive to him, and any attempt to excuse yourself was immediately cut short with, "No reply, sir."
— Frederick Marryat, Percival Keene
Lieutenant William Pringle Green (1783-1846), 1833 print by George Edward Madeley.
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marryat92 · 3 months
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A commission of Frank Mildmay with Bisexual Lighting for @clove-pinks
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marryat92 · 3 months
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Captain Marryat: a Christmas early adopter! 🎄
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During one winter that he spent in Brussels he gave a party, at which there was a Christmas tree that formed a nine days' wonder. These trees were not so common then, at all events among the English, as they are now; and Captain Marryat, entering heart and soul into the spirit of the thing, went to a species of fancy repository in the town, and, with his lavish and thoughtless generosity, bought the entire contents upon the spot.
In consequence, not only the tree but the room (amongst the articles were seven rocking horses) was completely filled with presents; and as they ranged from playthings for the children to bijouterie for the ladies, each guest was perfectly satisfied.
— Florence Marryat recalling her father's enthusiasm for Christmas, in the Life and Letters of Captain Frederick Marryat, 1872.
image: 1836 illustration of a Christmas tree, the year the Marryat family had a Christmas tree in Brussels.
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marryat92 · 3 months
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In the last years of his life, Captain Marryat remained on his estate in rural Langham, Norfolk. He described Christmas 1846 at Langham in a letter to his young goddaughter:
And now I will tell you how we passed our Christmas Day. We had a very small dinner by ourselves, but we thought of you and your fine Christmas tree, and how merry you were; but if we were not merry, there was a very merry party in the house; and if we did not feast, we had the pleasure of making others thank God for having a good dinner. All the men who work on the farm were invited to a Christmas dinner in the kitchen, and they sat down two and twenty at the table in the servants' hall, and were waited upon by our own servants. They had two large pieces of roast beef and a boiled leg of pork; four dishes of Norfolk dumplings; two large meat pies; two geese, eight ducks, and eight widgeon; and after that they had four large plum puddings.
— Frederick Marryat in a letter dated Langham, 4 Jan. 1847. (The Life and Letters of Captain Frederick Marryat)
A Christmas Party, watercolour by John Leech (1817-1864)
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marryat92 · 3 months
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While rats leaving a sinking ship must have been an alarming sight, they were not the only animals infesting the lower decks.
When young Percival Keene attempted to sail home a prize ship (which had been scuttled), one bad sign was the swarming of cockroaches:
It was not till past midnight that I could obtain any sleep; the heat was excessive, and I was teazed by the cockroaches, which appeared to swarm in the cabin to an incredible degree, and were constantly running over my face and body. I little thought then why they swarmed.
[...] At last I turned round and felt a splashing as of water, and some water coming into my mouth, I awoke. All was dark and quiet; I put my hand out, and I put it into the water—where was I—was I overboard? I jumped up in my fright; I found that I was still on the standing bed-place, but the water was above the mattress.
— Frederick Marryat, Percival Keene
And yet we don't say, "like cockroaches fleeing a sinking ship"!
Rats from a sinking ship
Sailors believed that rats had a sixth sense and that the sight of them leaving a ship in large numbers was a portent of disaster.
Shakespeare noted the tendency in The Tempest: … they prepared a rotten carcass of a boat, not rigg’d, nor tackle, sail, nor mast; the very rats instinctively have quit it.
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Rats leaving a sinking ship passed shocked sailors, 19th Century (x)
There could have been something to this belief, because rate were denizens of the bilge, the nethermost region inside the ship’s hull and the first place to flood when a vessel takes on water. In 1625, Francis Bacon, giving the metaphor a land base, wrote of the “ wisdom of rats that will be sure to leave a house somewhat before it fall.” And people also liked to call deserters rats who abandon the sinking ship.  When abandoning a cause that seems doomed to failure, a person is considerd to be a rat fleeing a figuratively sinking ship.
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marryat92 · 3 months
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By the steamboats, rail-roads, and the wonderful facilities of water-carriage, a journey of five hundred miles is as little considered in America, as would be here a journey from London to Brighton. “Go ahead” is the real motto of the country; and every man does push on, to gain in advance of his neighbour.
— Frederick Marryat, Diary in America
'Philadelphia Citizen's Line of Steam Boats to New York and Baltimore': 1831 lithograph by William L. Breton.
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marryat92 · 4 months
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Marryat wrote, originally, for fun. He found he was a born writer. Later, he needed money badly, and was constrained to turn the jaunt into a grind: but of literary solemnity he was innocent. He was indeed, 'non-pompous', as a sailor the worse for liquor is described in Poor Jack.
— Oliver Warner, Captain Marryat: A Rediscovery
'Men of War, bound for the Port of Pleasure': 1791 mezzotint after Robert Dighton.
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marryat92 · 4 months
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The men doated on me as a martyr in their cause, and delighted in giving me every instruction in the art of knotting and splicing, rigging, reefing, furling, &c., &c.; and I honestly own that the happiest hours I had passed in that ship were during my seclusion among these honest tars.
— Frederick Marryat, The Naval Officer (Frank Mildmay)
'A Débût' print after Clarkson Stanfield, 1857.
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marryat92 · 4 months
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My mother, pleased with the idea of becoming as it were a patroness under the rose, did so effectually exert her influence over the captain, that in a day or two afterwards play-bills were posted all over the town, announcing that the play of The Stranger, with the farce of Raising the Wind, would be performed on Friday evening, for the benefit of Miss Mortimer, under the patronage of the Honourable Captain Delmar, and the officers of his Majesty's ship Calliope.
— Frederick Marryat, Percival Keene
A lottery advertisement made 1813-1815 by George Cruikshank uses the character of Jeremy Diddler and a quote from James Kenney's 1803 farce Raising the Wind.
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marryat92 · 4 months
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The latest addition to my collection: Men o' War by Captain Henry Taprell "Taffrail" Dorling. It's notable for the selection of Royal Navy officers he has chosen to celebrate, apparently his personal favourites. It's a short list: John Jervis the 1st Earl of St. Vincent, Lord Thomas Cochrane, Captain Frederick Marryat, Jacky Fisher of HMS Dreadnought fame, and Lord Charles Beresford.
The fact that Dorling chose Marryat, Cochrane, and Fisher warms my heart, but I purchased this 1929 book because it's apparently the source of the story about Marryat challenging a clergyman to a duel.
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Tom Pocock gives the name as 'Frederick Maurice', and Dorling confirms that it is Frederick Denison Maurice (who is still well-represented in his religious writing online) as well as providing the name of the offending novel, Eustace Conway. A cursory search on Google Books turned up only volume two of Eustace Conway (out of three), but the character of "Captain Marryatt" [sic] is clearly up to no good.
It's also hilarious to me that the "apology" of this allegedly gentle and godly man is the mother of all backhanded compliments. Maurice claims to have never heard of the real Captain Marryat in 1834, when Marryat was not only the author of his Code of Signals, but a number of popular novels that he serialised in his own magazine. (Marryat wrote so quickly, I believe he was up to five novels by this time, not counting his short pieces for The Metropolitan Magazine).
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marryat92 · 4 months
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If you whistle long enough the wind is certain to come. In about an hour the breeze did come, and we took it down with us; but it was too dark to distinguish the schooner, which we had lost sight of as soon as the sun had set.
— Frederick Marryat, Jacob Faithful
A brig-schooner at sea, from the sketchbook of D. Tandy c. 1798-1805.
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marryat92 · 4 months
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I returned to my own vessel, and made sail for England: once more we greeted the white cliffs of Albion, so dear to every true English bosom. No one but he who has been an exile from its beloved shores can appreciate the thrill of joy on such an occasion.
— Frederick Marryat, The Naval Officer (Frank Mildmay)
View of Dover from St Margaret's Bay, unknown artist c. 1800
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marryat92 · 4 months
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In a few days the Aspasia and her prize arrived at Plymouth, the English colours proudly waving over the tricoloured flag of her late opponent, and both vessels ran into Hamoaze amidst the cheers of thousands of spectators assembled upon Mount Wise and Mount Edgecomb to greet their gallant and successful defenders.
— Frederick Marryat, The King's Own
'Frigate coming in with her prize', drawing by Edward Bamfylde Eagles (1782-1865)
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marryat92 · 4 months
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Among the pensioners, there was one with whom I must make the reader acquainted; as he will be an important person in this narrative. His name was Peter Anderson, a north countryman, I believe, from Greenock: he had been gunner's mate in the service for many years; and, having been severely wounded in an action, he had been sent to Greenwich. He was a boatswain in Greenwich Hospital; that is, he had charge of a ward of twenty-five men; and Ben the Whaler had lately been appointed one of the boatswain's mates under him. He was a very good scholar, and had read a great deal.
— Frederick Marryat, Poor Jack
A Greenwich Pensioner Telling a Story, British School, 19th century.
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marryat92 · 5 months
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Can you please explain the examination process from midshipman to lieutenant especially around the 1790s-1800s sort of period in the Age of Sail?
Like the actual examination, where does acting lieutenant come in, etc etc
Hi,
I have made four posts about this. I hope they help you here. They explain it in more detail than if I were to do it here in between. Have a pleasant evening.
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marryat92 · 5 months
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It was in the dreary month of fog, misanthropy, and suicide — the month during which Heaven receives a scantier tribute of gratitude from discontented man — during which the sun rises, but shines not — gives forth an unwilling light, but glads us not with his cheerful rays — during which large tallow candles assist the merchant to calculate his gains or to philosophise over his losses — in short, it was one evening in the month of November.
Frederick Marryat, Newton Forster
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