Mr. Midshipman Easy by Frederick Marryat
"Mr. Midshipman Easy" is a novel by Frederick Marryat that centers on the adventures of John "Jack" Easy, the son of a wealthy Hampshire gentleman who espouses radical views on equality during the French Revolution. Spoiled by his parents, Jack is sent to boarding school, where he begins to mature. At the age of sixteen, he embarks on a naval career aboard the ship Harpy, where he faces conflicts with superiors and forms a friendship with Mesty, a former African prince. Throughout his adventures at sea, Jack proves his bravery and resourcefulness, ultimately gaining command of a ship and experiencing both comedic and heroic escapades.
The story evolves into a blend of nautical adventure and romance as Jack becomes involved in a series of challenges that lead to his eventual engagement to Agnes, a noblewoman he saves. Despite his successes, Jack chooses to leave the naval service, returning home to restore order to his father's chaotic household. The novel explores themes of social class, personal growth, and the complexities of duty, culminating in Jack's transition from midshipman to a respected landowner and Member of Parliament. While often categorized as a boy's adventure tale, the book offers rich insights into character development and moral dilemmas, attracting a diverse readership.
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Subject Terms
Mr. Midshipman Easy by Frederick Marryat
First published: 1836
Type of work: Adventure tale/historical fiction/moral tale
Themes: Coming-of-age, education, love and romance, and war
Time of work: 1790-1808
Recommended Ages: 15-18
Locale: England and the western Mediterranean
Principal Characters:
John (Jack) Easy , a spoiled, argumentative boy who naively enters the navy as a midshipmanNicodemus , his father, who preaches equality and the rights of manCaptain Wilson , Jack’s commander on the HarpyMesty , once an African prince but now the midshipmen’s messboyGascoigne , a midshipman, Jack’s friendDon Rebiera , a Sicilian noblemanAgnes , Don Rebiera’s daughter
The Story
Mr. Nicodemus Easy, a prosperous Hampshire gentleman of the period of the French Revolution, chose to take the radical side and preached endlessly on equality and the rights of man. His only son became the special object of his message; and between this and his mother’s sentimentalism, John, or Jack, became intolerably spoiled. Fortunately the family doctor contrived to send him off to a boarding school, where the cane soon made him a tolerable scholar, though as argumentative for the rights of man as ever.
By the age of sixteen, Jack is convinced that there could be no equality on land and that he must turn to the sea. It happens that there is a Captain Wilson who is under financial obligation to Mr. Easy. He is glad to repay him by taking Jack onto his ship, the Harpy, as a midshipman. Jack immediately manages to quarrel with some of his superiors but makes one convert to the rights of man in Mesty, once an African prince, then a slave in the United States, and now a messboy on the Harpy. By treating Mesty as a friend, Jack gains a very valuable ally.
At this stage of the Napoleonic Wars, the English fleet had little to do in the Mediterranean except blockade Toulon and harass French and Spanish merchant shipping. In one raid by the Harpy’s boats on an enemy convoy, illness among the senior officers gives Jack command of the ship’s cutter, and he soon finds himself, through Mesty’s advice, in possession of a fine armed ship with a valuable cargo and some beautiful passengers, whom he chivalrously puts ashore. Jack’s duty is to report to the Harpy with his prize, but partly at the urging of Mesty, who has no desire to return to his kettle, he sets off on a cruise of his own. Knowing nothing of navigation, he blunders into a group of deserted islands, where his mutinous crew deserts the ship to carouse on some captured wine. Finally, Mesty tricks them into returning. Setting out again, they find the Harpy fighting a Spanish ship, and by their vigorous support, earn forgiveness for their various offenses.
Jack had other adventures at sea, some very creditable, but it is time to consider his adventures on shore. Having become involved in a ridiculous triangular duel, Jack and his friend Gascoigne use the duel as an excuse for desertion. Shipwrecked on Sicily, they come to the aid of an old man assaulted by ruffians and discover that the man, Don Rebiera, and his wife and daughters are the passengers they had released. (One of the ruffians is Don Rebiera’s illegitimate brother, the son of his mother by a Catholic priest.) An affection develops rapidly between Jack and Agnes, one of the daughters.
Meanwhile, Jack and Gascoigne return to duty, forgiven once more. Several nautical adventures follow, and then Jack, Gascoigne, and Mesty once more find themselves defending the Rebieras against the villainous brother, who this time has a small army of escaped galley slaves. It is now clear that Jack will marry Agnes in spite of the difference in religion (a new Catholic plot is foiled by Mesty). It is also clear that Jack will quit the service. In this he has the approval of Captain Wilson and other patrons; for all of his courage and energy, his wealth will always make him restless and will corrupt friends such as Gascoigne. Jack also has had word of his mother’s death and his father’s mental deterioration.
Returning to England in the company of the trusty Mesty, Jack finds that his father’s egalitarianism has reduced the house to chaos. (The father finally accidentally hangs himself from a machine intended for the study of craniology.) With the aid of Mesty, the house is returned to order, and there remains only to bring Agnes to England. Jack becomes a respectable and respected country gentleman and Conservative Member of Parliament. His only remaining connection with the sea is the use of his political influence on behalf of his friends.
Context
Though posterity has treated Mr. Midshipman Easy as a boy’s book, including it in the Father and Son Library (1928), it is not certain that Marryat would have classified it so; for shortly after he had written the book, he was warned by his publisher that midshipmen and frigates were going out of fashion, and he set to work producing books avowedly “written for young people” and so labeled on the title page. A good example is Masterman Ready (1841). Modeled on Johann David Wyss’s Der schweizerische Robinson (1812-1813; The Swiss Family Robinson, 1814), it depicts the adventures of Mr. Seagrove and his family, outbound from England to Australia. When the ship is badly damaged in a storm, they are deserted by all the crew except the elderly second mate, Masterman Ready. Wrecked on a desert island, they proceed, under the direction of Ready, to build a new life for themselves, using the resources of the island and the ample cargo of the ship. At the climax, they are assailed by a horde of “Indians” but are rescued by a ship sent from Australia to look for them. Ready has perished in the fighting, but the others continue their voyage to New South Wales and prosperity.
The instruction of the novel comes in various forms. Unlike Mr. Midshipman Easy, Masterman Ready offers no ideological conflicts; all the shipwrecked characters are Christians who are convinced that Providence is watching over them. Good deeds are rewarded with good fortune, though the opposite is not always true; the bad boy of the family, whose carelessness causes Ready’s death, survives and grows up to be a major. The didacticism of the novel is not, however, limited to moral lessons: Ready talks endlessly about their practical problems, but the more learned Mr. Seagrove, in response to questions from the children, will lecture for pages on everything from natural history to marine insurance. Masterman Ready is surprisingly readable, but in the end the reader can be thankful that Marryat did not write Mr. Midshipman Easy exclusively for the young.