Captain Frederick Marryat (July 10, 1792-August 9, 1848) was an English Royal Navy officer, a contemporary of Thackery, and an acquaintance of Charles Dickens. He is known today as an early pioneer of the sea story. Based on Marryat's adventures sailing with Lord Thomas Cochrane during the Napoleonic Wars, "Mr. Midshipman Easy" (1836) is mostly a humorous, sometimes ironic, satirical, seafaring adventure. However, the early chapters of the novel address the birth, upbringing, and education of "our Hero", Jack Easy, and set the stage for the rest of the book.

Jack Easy is the son of a privileged, wealthy gentleman who claims to be a philosopher and brings up John (Jack) to believe in the Equality and the Rights of Man. This philosophy causes considerable problems for Jack as a child, and he decides that to find true equality he must go to sea. But he finds his beliefs in equality, equally at odds with life as a Midshipman in His Majesty's Navy!

With his cheerful naivety, honourable outlook, and with the help of his friend Mesty (a freed Ashanti slave), he faces inevitable clashes with authority and has many memorable adventures. This classic tale is a vivid and humorous account of naval life and warfare. The author's wittiness and direct, contemporary feeling writing style have earned him praise from William Conrad, Ernest Hemingway, and Madox Ford (who called him "the greatest of English novelists.")