Old sea dog found estate so inspiring

September 2, 2004

MARRYAT ROAD (Heartsease)

AHOY there me hearties!

Captain Frederick Marryat was a larger- than-life old sea dog turned writer who settled down to become a Norfolk farmer.

The Manor House at Langham in north Norfolk, where Captain Frederick Marrayat continued to pen his novels.

In his early years he was a man of action, never happy, unless on board a man-of-war travelling the high seas in the name of the British Empire.

Born in 1792, he was said to be a “tiresome boy” and his lively behaviour at school was always getting him into hot water.

By the age of 14 his father sent him off to sea. He was entered on board a frigate under the command of Lord Cochrane — one of the most daring characters in the British Navy.

Marryat loved it. He took part in more than 50 engagements around the world, received many honours, and saved at least a dozen lives by rescuing men from the sea.

When he was aged 38 he left the Navy and lived most of the time in Brussels, where he started to write for magazines and then books and a lot of adventure stories for boys. Mr Midshipman Easy was one.

Then, one night over dinner in London, fortified by Champagne, he agreed to exchange his house in London for the Manor House at Langham in Norfolk.

He continued to travel the world and wrote, but he ran out of money and eventually arrived to live at Langham.

He tried to run his estate but wasn’t very successful, although his tenants loved him. During his time at Langham he penned some of his most famous books, including The Mission, The Children of the New Forest and The Little Savage. But the sea was in his blood. In 1847, he offered his services to the Admiralty once again.

This time he was turned down and in his anger at such treatment he went into a fit of rage and broke a blood vessel in his lung. Just as he was starting to recover, he heard his eldest son has been lost at sea — he died a few weeks later.

He was 56.

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