Sadleir, Michael

Biography

Frederick Marryat was born on July 10, 1792 in London, England; ran away several times from school, seeking to escape to sea; in 1806 his father entered him on board the Impérieuse; served in the Centaur in the Mediterranean in 1810, and later in the West Indies and on the coast of North America; took an active part in the first Burmese War, serving as senior naval officer in Rangoon; appointed captain of the Tees; resigned in 1830; awarded CB for conduct in Burma, and the gold medal of the Royal Humane Society for his gallantry in saving life at sea; elected fellow of the Royal Society in 1819 mainly for his adaptation of signalling to a code for the mercantile marine, for which he later received the decoration of the French Legion of Honour; began writing novels, some of which first appeared in the Metropolitan magazine which he edited from 1832-35; they include Newton Forster (1832), Peter Simple (1834), and Jacob Faithful (1834); later wrote children's books, including Masterman Ready or the Wreck of the Pacific (1841) and The Children of the New Forest (1847); also published some drawings and caricatures; he died on August 9, 1848 in Langham, Norfolk, England.