Captain Frederick Marryat was an English Royal Navy officer, novelist, and a contemporary and acquaintance of Charles Dickens, noted today as an early pioneer of the sea story. He is now known particularly for the semi-autobiographical novel Mr Midshipman Easy and his children's novel The Children of the New Forest, and for a widely used system of maritime flag signalling, known as Marryat's Code.
The Children of the New Forest
Read by Nick Whitley
Running Time:12:49:12
The Children of the New Forest is a children's novel published in 1847 by Frederick Marryat. It is set in the time of the English Civil War and the Commonwealth. The story follows the fortunes of the four Beverley children who are orphaned during the war, and hide from their Roundhead oppressors in the shelter of the New Forest where they learn to live off the land.
The story begins in 1647 when King Charles I has been defeated in the civil war and has fled from London towards the New Forest. Parliamentary soldiers have been sent to search the forest and decide to burn Arnwood, the house of Colonel Beverley, a Cavalier officer killed at the Battle of Naseby. The four orphan children of the house, Edward, Humphrey, Alice and Edith, are believed to have died in the flames. However, they are saved by Jacob Armitage, a local gamekeeper, who hides them in his isolated cottage acting as his grandchildren.
Under Armitage's guidance, the children adapt from an aristocratic lifestyle to that of simple foresters. After Armitage's death, Edward takes charge and the children develop and expand the farmstead, aided by the entrepreneurial spirit of the younger brother Humphrey. They are assisted by a gypsy boy, Pablo, who they rescue from a pitfall trap. A sub-plot involves a hostile Puritan gamekeeper named Corbould who seeks to harm Edward and his family. Edward also encounters the sympathetic Puritan, Heatherstone, placed in charge of the Royal land in the New Forest, and rescues his daughter, Patience, in a house-fire. Edward leaves the cottage and works as a secretary for Heatherstone, but Edward maintains the pretence that he is the grandson of Jacob Armitage.
Great Ghost Stories
Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928), Frederick Marryat (1792 - 1848) et al.
Read by Phyllis V
Running Time: 13:11:05
A great collection of 12 classic stories about ghosts and the supernatural. Included are stories by Thomas Hardy, Fitz-James O'Brien, and Margaret Oliphant. Recommended for fans of classic ghost stories of yesteryear.
00 - Foreward
01 - The House and the Brain, by Lord Edward Bulwer-Lytton - Part I
02 - The House and the Brain - Part II
03 - The House and the Brain - Part III
04 - The Roll-Call of the Reef, by A.T. Quiller-Couch - Part I
05 - The Roll-Call of the Reef - Part II
06 - The Open Door, by Margaret Oliphant - Part I
07 - The Open Door - Part II
08 - The Open Door - Part III
09 - The Open Door - Part IV
10 - The Open Door by Margaret Oliphant - Part V
11 - The Deserted House, by Ernest Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann, Part I
12 - The Deserted House - Part II
13 - The Mysterious Sketch, by Erckmann-Chatrian - Part I
14 - The Mysterious Sketch - Part II
15 - The Mysterious Sketch - Part III
16 - Green Branches, by Fiona Macleod - Part I
17 - Green Branches - Part II
18 - The Four-Fifteen Express, by Amelia B. Edwards - Part I
19 - The Four-Fifteen Express - Part II
20 - The Four-Fifteen Express - Part III
21 - The Were-Wolf, by H. B. Marryatt - Part I
22 - The Were-Wolf - Part II
23 - The Withered Arm, by Thomas Hardy - Part I
24 - The Withered Arm - Part II
25 - The Withered Arm - Part III
26 - Clarimonde, by Theophile Gautier - Part I
27 - Clarimonde - Part II
28 - Clarimonde - Part III
29 - Clarimonde - Part IV
30 - The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral, by Montague Rhodes James - Part I
31 - The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral - Part II
32 - What Was It?, by Fitz-James O'Brien - Part I
33 - What Was It? - Part II
Jacob Faithful
Read by Noel Badrian
Running Time:17:23:35
Jacob Faithful is a tale centred on the lives of the Thames watermen who made their living along the tidal reaches of that river and in the Port of London. Particularly it deals with the story of young Jacob literally born and raised on the river. He is orphaned in bizarre circumstances, gets an education, is apprenticed to a bargeman and then to a wherryman before being "pressed" into the Royal Navy. The book gives an interesting insight into the life of London and it's great river at the beginning of the 19th Century
Mr. Midshipman Easy
Read by Adrian Praetzellis
Running Time:16:16:52
One of the first novel-length pieces of nautical fiction, MR. MIDSHIPMAN EASY (1836) is a funny and easygoing account of the adventures of Jack Easy, a son of privilege who joins the Royal Navy. The work begins as a satire on Jack’s attachment to “the rights of man” that may try the listener’s patience. But despair not, for the story soon settles down as the philosophical midshipman begins his many triumphs over bullies, foul weather, and various damned foreigners of murderous intent.
Caveat audiens: This novel employs racial/ethnic epithets and religious stereotypes, as well as taking a rather sunny view of supply-side economics. In short, there's something here to offend almost everyone.
The Naval Officer, or Scenes in the Life and Adventures of Frank Mildmay
Read by Multiple Readers
Running Time:15:39:22
Marryat was a midshipman under Captain Cochrane and this, his first naval adventure, is considered to be a highly autobiographical telling of his adventures with one of Britain's most famous and daring naval captains.
Peter Simple
Read by Multiple Readers
Running Time:16:12:05
Peter Simple, 'the fool of the family', son of a parson but heir presumptive to a title, goes to sea as midshipman during the Napoleonic wars. Naturally, at sea in this period is where adventures are just waiting for a lad like Peter, and so he does stumble from one into the next. Of particular note is also the colorful group of supporting characters he meets on board and on shore.
The Pirate, and The Three Cutters
Read by Multiple Readers
Running Time:08:24:39
Pirates are the subject of many a dime novel and boys' stories, but they tend to be portrayed as one-dimensional. Such is the case here. The captain of The Avenger is a Byronic or even a Michael Scottish hero—an impossible monster, compounded of one virtue and a thousand crimes. Marryat drew on his recollections of the time when he was a midshipman with Cochrane in the Impèrieuse, for the figure of the old steersman, who sticks to his post under the fire of the Avenger.
The Three Cutters was written to pad out the novel The Pirate and deals with smuggling. It is a farcical romp, with too many women in a man's world to be credible.
Snarleyyow
Read by Arnold Banner
Running Time:16:52:11
This is a quite amusing nautical tale of the British Navy of the around the year 1700. While, as with much early 'humor', it is somewhat heavy-handed, the sympathies of the author are clear and good, and cruelty is often averted by good fortune or background characters. First published under the title 'The Dog Fiend', the primary characters are an evil captain of a cutter and his dog. The dog seems indestructible, as is the poor cabin boy who is the butt of the captain's ill humor, and who often is chewed on by the dog. The cutter is sent against smugglers, transporting ' Alamodes and lute strings' - a term for foreign silks. But, the smugglers really are Jacobites plotting against King William, and much of the action relates to politics of that time.