Mr Midshipman Easy

Mr Midshipman Easy is a novel published in 1836 by Frederick Marryat, a retired captain of the British Royal Navy who had served with distinction in the Napoleonic Wars, the period in which the story is set. Marryat drew on his seafaring experience to give the narrative the tone of a naval adventure, but his real aim is a satire of the political and philosophical ideas of his time.

The protagonist, Easy, is the son of foolish parents who spoil him. His father sees himself as a philosopher, firmly convinced of the rights of man and of equality, yet the wealthy gentlemen who visit the household have no intention of sharing their property, and the women of the house deny the men any reason at all. Easy grows up absorbing these ideas until he renounces private property altogether. When he joins the Navy, which his father regards as the best example of an equal society, he befriends Mesty, a low-ranking seaman, an escaped slave who had once been a prince in Africa. Mesty initially shares Easy's views, but once he is promoted to ship's corporal and put in charge of discipline he changes his mind, allowing Marryat to mock the convenience of social position.

In many ways Mesty is the true hero of the book, pulling the impulsive young man out of one scrape after another as they cruise the Mediterranean on various British ships. Easy nonetheless becomes a competent officer. On returning home after his mother's death, he finds his father driven mad by a device of his own invention, intended to reshape the skull's bumps according to phrenological theory; the machine ends up killing him. Easy dismisses the dishonest servants, restores order to the estate and, with his fortune secured, leaves the Navy, fits out a privateer and sails to Sicily to claim his bride, Agnes. Now a wealthy gentleman, he can no longer be refused by her family, and the novel ends happily.

The book was a considerable popular success, and its light, irreverent tone made it one of the most widely read seafaring novels of its day. It was adapted for the screen twice in the United Kingdom: in 1915 as a silent film directed by Maurice Elvey, and in 1935 as a sound film directed by Carol Reed.