Nov 12, 2021
Despite their moments of regret, then, Marryat's prodigal sons are glad to be rid of home and school. They nevertheless discover rigorous substitutes for home and school on shipboard. School on shore is usually an unpleasant affair in his fiction, but Marryat often points out that the public schools were tame compared to shipboard education of the brutal sort. Older midshipmen bully the younger ones without stint; as Jack Easy puts it, "the weak go to the wall."
— Patrick Brantlinger on Frederick Marryat's naval fiction, in Rule of Darkness: British Literature and Imperialism, 1830-1914
The Midshipmen's Berth, (detail), Charles Random.
#frederick marryat#captain marryat#age of sail#royal navy#midshipmen#midshipman#english literature#british literature#patrick brantlinger#rule of darkness#i think brantlinger reads marryat in a shallow way and i don't agree with everything he says#but he has some good takes#midshipmen's berth#naval art#naval history#charles random