Mr Midshipman Easy was published by Saunders and Otley in 1836 and is Marryat’s masterpiece — the novel that best combines his gifts for comic characterization, nautical adventure, and social satire. Jack Easy, son of a wealthy philosopher who believes in the natural equality of man, joins the Royal Navy as a midshipman and discovers that the quarterdeck of a man-of-war is perhaps the least egalitarian institution in existence.
The comedy derives from the collision between Jack’s philosophical principles and naval reality: he argues for equality with his superiors (who beat him), attempts to treat the lower deck as intellectual equals (they are baffled), and applies the Rights of Man to questions of discipline and command (with disastrous results). Gradually — and this is Marryat’s subtle point — Jack discovers that hierarchy has its reasons, that liberty without order produces chaos, and that the Navy’s rigid social system, for all its absurdity, actually works.
But the novel is not merely a conservative apology for the existing order: Marryat’s satire cuts in all directions. The officers are frequently incompetent, the system is often cruel, and Jack’s idealism — however impractical — exposes genuine injustices. The novel operates at the intersection of adventure and ideas in a way that was new in English fiction, and its influence on the boys’ adventure tradition (Ballantyne, Henty, Kingston, and eventually Forester and O’Brian) is incalculable.
Collecting Mr Midshipman Easy
First edition (Saunders and Otley, London, 1836): Three volumes, cloth boards.
Market values:
- First edition (3 vols): $500–$1500
- Victorian reprints: $30–$75
- Illustrated editions (various): $20–$60