Mr. Midshipman Easy is an 1836 novel by Frederick Marryat, a retired Captain in the 19th century Royal Navy. The novel is set during the Napoleonic Wars, in which Marryat himself served with distinction. It was adapted twice into films in 1916 and in 1935 as Midshipman Easy. Captain Frederick Marryat (10 July 1792 - 9 August 1848) was an English Royal Navy officer, novelist, and a contemporary and acquaintance of Charles Dickens, noted today as an early pioneer of the sea story. He is now known particularly for the semi-autobiographical novel Mr Midshipman Easy and his children's novel The Children of the New Forest.