Life of Frederick Marryat

The life of the sea officer who invented the naval novel: Marryat went to sea at fourteen, fought in the Napoleonic wars, saved a dozen men from drowning, designed the lifeboat and the signal code the merchant fleet used for a century, and only then wrote Mr Midshipman Easy. Hannay was a naval historian and consular official, and writes with a professional's eye for what the sailing navy actually was. Fifty-nine plates, from Turner to Aivazovsky, trace the sea and shore that shaped Marryat's world across three centuries of painting.