Newton Forster or The Merchant Service
by Frederick Marryat, Alex Struik
Category: Fiction

Newton Forster or, the Merchant Service was first published in 1832 . The book tells the story of the Master of a coastal brig in the Royal Navy, his adventures, shipwreck and love interests as well as a fictionalised account of the Battle of Pulo Aura in the Straits of Malacca.The Battle of Pulo Aura was a naval engagement of the Napoleonic Wars, fought on 14 February 1804, in which a large convoy of Honourable East India Company's East Indiamen, well-armed merchant ships, intimidated, drove off and chased a powerful French naval squadron. Captain Frederick Marryat (10 July 1792 – 9 August 1848) was an English Royal Navy officer, novelist, and noted today as an early pioneer of the sea story. He is known particularly for the semi-autobiographical novel "Mr Midshipman Easy" and his children's novel "The Children of the New Forest", as well as for a widely used system of maritime flag signalling, known as "Marryat's Code".