author
Frank Marryat
1826–1855
A sailor, artist, and travel writer, he turned his adventures in the Far East and Gold Rush California into lively firsthand books. His work mixes sharp observation, humor, and the restless energy of a short life spent on the move.
2 Audiobooks
Mountains and molehills; or, Recollections of a burnt journal
by Frank Marryat
About the author
Born Samuel Francis Marryat in 1826 and usually known as Frank Marryat, he was an English sailor, artist, and author from a notably literary family: he was a son of Captain Frederick Marryat. He served in the Royal Navy while still young, and his travels gave him material for the books and illustrations that made his name.
His first major book, Borneo and the Indian Archipelago, grew out of his experiences in the Far East. He later traveled to California during the Gold Rush years, and those experiences became Mountains and Molehills; or, Recollections of a Burnt Journal, a vivid travel narrative remembered for its energetic picture of San Francisco, mining life, and the larger-than-life characters he encountered.
Marryat died in 1855, still only in his twenties. Although his life was brief, his writing remains valuable for its adventurous spirit and for the lively eyewitness detail it preserves from two very different 19th-century worlds.