Frederick Marryat Captain Frederick Marryat ( 10 July 1792 – 9 August 1848 ) 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 . Early life and naval career . Marryat was born in London , the son of Joseph Marryat , a " merchant prince " and member of Parliament and his German wife Charlotte , née von Geyer . After trying to run away to sea several times , he was permitted to enter the Royal Navy in 1806 , as a midshipman on board HMS " Imperieuse " , a frigate commanded by Lord Cochrane ( who would later serve as inspiration for both Marryat and other authors ) . Marryat ' s time aboard the " Imperieuse " included action off the Gironde , the rescue of a fellow midshipman who had fallen overboard , captures of many ships off the Mediterranean coast of Spain , and the capture of the castle of Montgat . When the " Imperieuse " shifted to operations in the Scheldt , in 1809 , Marryat contracted malaria , and returned to England on the 74 - gun HMS " Victorious " . After recuperating , Marryat returned to the Mediterranean in the 74 - gun HMS " Centaur " , and again saved a shipmate by leaping into the sea after him . He then sailed as a passenger to Bermuda in the 64 - gun HMS " Atlas " , and from thence to Halifax , Nova Scotia on the schooner HMS " Chubb " . Once there he joined the 32 - gun frigate HMS " Aeolus " , on 27 April 1811 . A few months later , Marryat again earned distinction by leading the effort to cut away the " Aeolus " < nowiki > ' < / nowiki > mainyard to save the ship during a storm , and , continuing a pattern , he also saved one of the men from the sea . Shortly thereafter , he moved to the frigate HMS " Spartan " , participating in the capture of a number of American ships ( the War of 1812 having begun by then ) , and on 26 December 1812 was promoted to lieutenant . As lieutenant , Marryat served in the sloop and in , and was promoted to commander on 13 June 1815 , just in time for peace to break out . He then pursued scientific studies , invented a lifeboat ( thus earning both a gold medal from the Royal Humane Society and the nickname ' Lifeboat ' ) . Based on his experience in the Napoleonic Wars escorting merchant ships in convoys , he developed a practical and widely used system of maritime flag signalling known as Marryat ' s Code . During his scientific studies he described in 1818 a new gastropod genus " Cyclostrema " with the type species " Cyclostrema cancellatum " . In 1819 he married Catherine Shairp , with whom he had four sons ( of whom only the youngest , Frank , outlived him ) and seven daughters ( including Florence , a prolific novelist and his biographer ; Emilia , a writer of moralist adventure novels in her father ' s vein ; and Augusta , also a writer of adventure fiction ) . Around this time Marryat collaborated with George Cruikshank the caricaturist to produce " The New Union Club " , an extravagant satire against abolitionism . In 1820 he commanded the sloop and temporarily commanded HMS " Rosario " for the purpose of bringing back to England the despatches announcing the death of Napoleon on Saint Helena . He also took the opportunity to make a sketch of Napoleon ' s body on his deathbed , which was later published as a lithograph . Marryat ' s artistic skills were modest , but his sketches of shipboard life above and below deck have considerable charm that overcomes their crudities . In 1823 he was appointed to HMS " Larne " , 20 , and took part in an expedition against Burma in 1824 . During this expedition , which resulted in large losses due to disease , he was promoted to command the 28 - gun HMS " Tees " , and this gave him the rank of post captain . He was back in England in 1826 . In 1829 he was commanding the frigate HMS " Ariadne " on a mission to search for shoals around the Madeira and Canary Islands . This was an uninspiring exercise , and between that and the recent publication of his first novel , " The Naval Officer " , he decided to resign his commission in November 1830 and take up writing full - time . Literary career . From 1832 to 1835 Marryat edited " The Metropolitan Magazine " . He kept producing novels , with his biggest success , " Mr Midshipman Easy " , coming in 1836 . He lived in Brussels for a year , travelled in Canada and the United States , then moved to London in 1839 , where he was in the literary circle of Charles Dickens and others . He was in North America in 1837 when the Rebellion of that year in Lower Canada broke out , and served with the British forces in suppressing it . He was named a Fellow of the Royal Society in recognition of his invention and other achievements . In 1843 he moved to a small farm at Manor Cottage in Norfolk , where he died in 1848 . His daughter Florence Marryat later became well known as a writer and actress . His son Francis Samuel Marryat completed his late novel " The Little Savage " . Marryat ' s novels are characteristic of their time , with the concerns of family connections and social status often overshadowing the naval action , but they are interesting as fictional renditions of the author ' s 25 years of real - life experience at sea . These novels , much admired by men like Mark Twain , Joseph Conrad and Ernest Hemingway , were among the first sea novels . They were models for later works by C . S . Forester and Patrick O ' Brian that were also set in the time of Nelson and told the stories of young men rising through the ranks through successes as naval officers . Along with his novels , Marryat was also known for his short writings on nautical subjects . These short stories , plays , pieces of travel journalism and essays appeared in " The Metropolitan Magazine " too , and were later published in book form as " Olla Podrida " . Marryat ' s 1839 Gothic novel " The Phantom Ship " contained " The White Wolf of the Hartz Mountains " , which includes the first female werewolf in a short story . Controversy existed amongst the readers of Marryat ' s work ; as some criticized that he wrote with carelessness . However , others admired the way he wrote about his real life experiences at sea with vivacity . His later novels were generally for the children ' s market , including his most famous novel for contemporary readers , " The Children of the New Forest " , which was published in 1847 and set in the countryside surrounding the village of Sway , Hampshire .