Masterman Ready

by Frederick Marryat

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Genres: Fiction, Classics, Adventure, Historical Fiction, Nautical, British Literature, Childrens

141 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1841

About the author

Captain Frederick Marryat was a British Royal Navy officer and novelist, an early pioneer of the sea story.

For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederic...

Reviews

[Tharindu Dissanayake · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Necessity sharpens a man's wits;"

'Masterman Ready' is a complete adventure in many aspects in my opinion, checking most of which are usually expected from a story like this. The story is very detailed at at the same time very engaging, emphasizing almost all the difficulties to add a great deal of realism in to it, and at the same time allowing the reader to enjoys the hard earned rewards by the characters. I felt the two sub-plots, Ready's life story and Mr. Seagrave's animal instincts descriptions added a nice bit of change to the story, despite the former occupying a significant part of the story.

"never let the fear of ridicule induce you to do what is wrong; or if you have done wrong, prevent you from returning to what is your duty."

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very similar to Swiss Family Robinson in plot. Like the fact that they refer to God quite a bit, and talk about the different wonders of creation as well. Short, easy to read chapters make it easy to just read a little bit at a time.

[Justin Neville · Rating 4 out of 5]

This 1841 novel for young readers is - to the contemporary reader - really dreadful.

It is cringeworthily and heavy-handedly moralistic and didactic. And the values it espouses and is trying to indoctrinate in its young readers are, in many ways, a million miles from our own.

So why the four stars?

Partly because, damn it, he's such a good writer. It is gripping, despite being predictable. And heartwarming, despite being implausible.

And partly because - to be frank - I got a huge kick out of feeling more enlightened and morally and culturally superior to both the characters in the book and the author. If we're honest with ourselves, I think that's often part of the appeal for us of reading 'classics'. What's not to like about reading a good yarn whilst noting with self-satisfaction that we know better now?

There's no way that this book would be considered appropriate for young readers today. But it was clearly still being used in schools in the mid-20th century: I was reading my mother's school copy from 1945.

[J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

In his latter years, Marryat turned to mostly juvenile literature, and Masterman Ready is one of those works. it must be taken as a a product of its time and, as such, is not as interesting as Marryat's adult seafaring adventures. The Seagrave family is shipwrecked on the typical desert island with a faithful, wise, and practical old seaman, Masterman Ready. With his untiring help they build shelter, survive, repel attacks by savages, and are finally rescued. The family stranded on a desert island story is almost always a good one, though the Swiss Family Robinson did their boring best to dull it down as much as possible. The problem is that early Victorian juvenile literature needed to be "improving" and so there is much moralizing and life lessons and preparing yourself to accept God's will and to accept your fate. Which the reader will soon start to skip over. The oldest Seagrave son is sober, helpful, and takes on his role as an adult and helper to Ready. The younger son, Tommy, is the example of free will that puts his life and the lives of others at risk by his willful and thoughtless actions.

Considering that children, adults too, died all too easily and often, it is not surprising that many of the lessons are to accept God's will and to be "right with God" when death comes all too unexpectedly. It that way the family might be reunited in heaven. This somewhat morbid frame of mind can be quite strange to modern sensibilities. The unquestioned killing of the "savages" that attack in the end may also disturb the less blood thirsty among us. So, all in all, a curiosity that can be easily skipped for one of Marryat's better books.

[Janith Pathirage · Rating 3 out of 5]

This survival story is similar to The Swiss Family Robinson in many ways. I think it's a very good book for kids since there are some good life lessons being taught by the author who was a seaman. Specially it was heavy on optimism and being grateful for what you have. Still it was nothing more than a cliche family survival story of the 19th century. No twists and jaw opening moments. From the first page itself you can see how everything's gonna play out in the end. Two things annoyed me as I was reading the book. One, the way the Seagrave family praises the lord in almost every page like you are running YouTube adds. Then there was Tommy the spoiled kid. He was so annoying throughout the story. He even got one of the key characters killed for no reason, just got slapped across his face and got away with it.

[Tommy Verhaegen · Rating 4 out of 5]

De ondertiteling "Leven als Robinson Crusoe" moet vooral als aanduiding van het soort boek gezien worden en zeker niet al te letterlijk genomen hebben. In dit boek komen de schipbreukelingen al haast onmiddellijk in een grote luxe terecht omdat ze heel veel uit hun schip kunnen redden. Hier en daar zijn er wel parallellen maar niet zoveel dat er van plagiaat sprake is - eerder een soort draaiboek met "best practices" bij schipbreuk. Er wordt trouwen ook enkele keren expliciet verwezen naar Robinson Crusoe van Daniel Defoe.
De cover geeft een noodtoestand op een schip mee, waarbij vooral de stomp van de afgebroken mast opvalt. Dat is dan ook het begin van het schipbreukelingenverhaal, maar niet het begin van het boek.
Het boek telt 66 korte hoofdstukjes zodat het toch nog aan 160 bladzijden komt. Dat leest wel snel.
Het meeste wordt verteld vanuit het standpunt van de jonge Willem, soms wordt er even overgesprongen naar tweede stuurman Wilke (die wel de belangrijkste figuur in het verhaal is) of de ouders van Willem. Het broertje Tommy blinkt vooral uit door ongehoorzaamheid, nukken en gevaarlijk gedrag, waarbij hij zelfs zijn zusje haast doodschiet.
Het verhaal speelt in het verleden, ze varen met een zeilschip zonder moderne technologie of communicatiemiddelen. Dat verklaart ook de totale afwezigheid van wokeness en het zonder pardon afschieten van de 'wilden'.
Uitgerust met goede bijlen en houtbewerkersgereedschap slagen ze er in om op korte termijn een grote hoeveelheid bomen te vellen en te gebruiken om huizen, schuren, omheiningen en meubels te bouwen. Kippen, geiten en varkens vermenigvuldigen zich, dus voedselgebrek kennen ze niet - daar ze dat menu ook nog eens kunnen aanvullen met vis en schildpadden.
Het tempo van het verhaal ligt hoog, er is veel aktie en een zekere dosis spanning, maar in de verhaallijn komen heel wat quasi-herhalingen voor, dat geeft soms een déjà-vu gevoel. Humor is er niet veel en romantiek ontbreekt compleet. De psychologische diepgang wordt samengevat door hun geloof in god als de grote Voorzienigheid die alles regelt.

[Thilss The Bookworm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loveeeeeeeeeeeed it. My childhood was awesome cs of the books like Masterman Ready, Coral Island, The Black Arrow, Kidnap , Treasure Island n Robinson Crso

[Wendy M Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trust, care and endeavour.

Written in a different age I found it a delight to read regarding an instruction for good living, survival and general information. The book was down to earth for the times in which it was written with the limited knowledge and concept of people in the wider world unlike today when travel is easy and knowledge greater. The faith of the family helping them through adversity and the wonderful character of Masterman Ready heart warming. The practical killing of animals for survival made me cringe as did some of the references to natives but this book depicts the times in which it was written. Masterman Ready would say now, as civilisation gets older it learns and often regrets its mistakes with forgiveness in mind. A good easy read for anyone.

[Slestein]

A working-class sailor repeatedly risks his life to save a family of his social superiors. One of their horrible sons gets him killed in the *very* racist climax of the novel, teaching Marryat's young readers a valuable moral lesson about piety and the necessity of rigid social hierarchy (a favorite theme of the author's). Victorian children's literature is rough going...

[Marianne Gregory · Rating 3 out of 5]

After Mr Midshipman Easy, my expectations were too high for this book...

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book for kids. I still love the book

[D Mccluskey]

Great book.
Kids loved it and I enjoyed it too.
Some good values for life

[Matus Visnovsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

***OBSAH***
Námorníci a rodina Seagravova sa plavia plachetnicou Pacific do Austrálie. Búrka im zničí loď a námorníci sa rozhodnú odplávať na záchrannom člne, čo sa im podarí. Na plachetnici zostáva iba rodinka Seagravova a skúsený námorník Masterman Ready. Stroskotajú na korálovom ostrove, kde si postupne vybudujú príbytky, záhradu, sklad, rybník a mnoho ďalšieho. Raz dokonca aj zahliadnu loď, aby im prišla na pomoc, ibaže kvôli zlému počasiu sa musela vrátiť späť a zakotviť nemohla. Pán Seagrave a pani Seagravova majú 4 deti - William, ten je najstarší, Carolina, Tomi a najmenší Albert. Okrem toho v ich rodine sa nachádza aj otrokyňa z Afriky Juno. Na korálovom ostrove sa striedajú obdobia sucha a dažďa, a preto sa tomu prispôsobujú aj prácu. Ready je naozaj veľmi skúsený ma cez 50 rokov skúsenosti a iba kvôli nemu prežili. Tomi im robí iba napriek, napr. Strelil mušketou a vylomil si 2 zuby, pojedol im slepačie vajíčka, dal náprstok do polievky a najdôležitejšie je to, že im vypustil vodu, ktorú mali pripravenú ako zásobu, keď na nich zaútočia divosi. William naopak je veľmi zvedavý chlapec, statočný, rád pomáha a je odvážny. Juno taktiež pomáha. Na ostrove sú asi rok a všetko si postupne budujú. Medzitým nám Ready rozpráva o svojej mladosti ako bol zbabelý a išiel za námorníka, dostal sa do väzenia, potom z neho utiekol, znovu bol námorník a nakoniec ho to nebavilo, tak sa rozhodol prestúpiť na inú loď a vtedy boli vo vode žraloky a zjedli jeho kamaráta a mysleli si, že aj jeho. Nakoniec sa vrátil domov, kde zistil, že jeho mama zomrela od žiaľu za ním. Nakoniec sa stál kapitánom lode, ale potom znovu spadol na dno... Jedného dňa sa na ostrov priblížia dve vysilené divošky a oni sa im rozhodnú pomôcť, lenže potom utečú, a tak sa naši stroskotanci musia pripraviť na útok. Presťahujú sa do svojho skladišťa, ktoré opevnia a čakajú na útok. Zaútočia na nich divosi a úspešne sa im darí odrážať ich útoky, lenže potom sa musí Ready vydať na cestu po vodu, ktorú im Tomi vypustil, a práve vtedy Readyho trafí oštep do pľúc a neskôr zomiera. Nakoniec ich príde zachrániť loď na čele s kapitánom Osbornom, ktorý bol aj kapitánom lode Pacific.
***RECENZIA***
Kniha bola pre mňa veľmi ľahká na čítanie a aj ma bavila. Hoci to sem-tam bolo trochu nereálne, ale tak ešte som námornú literatúru nečítal. V knihe sa aj William pýta na veľmi veľa otázok, ako napr. ako vzniká vietor, čo sú pasáty, Golfský prúd, ako vznikajú korálové ostrovy... A kniha to veľmi pekne vysvetľuje, resp. autor. Určite to nebola strata času.

[Jack Pearce · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book offers entertaining reading at several levels. Ignore the star rating - I don’t know how to critique a book that is a product of its times.

As an adventure story for children of mid 19th Century, it tells an enjoyable albeit predictable ship wreck on a tropical isle tale.

The story is well told and the pages turn readily as I imagine myself in the Boy’s Own style adventure. It requires the reader to appreciate both the moral fable embedded in the story and the social mores of the era.

The book is quite unpublishable in the modern era of political correctness. It is a time capsule and worthy of academic study on that basis alone.

I enjoyed the book but I would be mocked for drinking in all the inappropriate images and language. The reader of 2023 must step into the his or her time machine to enjoy the book. I remain respectful of the author - Captain Marryat - who was well motivated to tell the enjoyable moral fable woven into excellent maritime action.

Marryat remains famous not only as an author but for his improved semaphore signalling system. He was by all accounts a fine naval officer and good hearted man.

[Larry Piper · Rating 2 out of 5]

A hundred years ago, this was considered a children's classic. It tells the story of the Seagrave family who are ship wrecked on a south sea island along with a wizened old sailor, Masterman Ready. That sounds like it might be a gripping story, but it's not. It switches between didactic lessons regarding how the protagonists salvage their ship and set up housing for themselves and procure sources of food, along with pious discourses on how all is ordered by God's great, beneficial providence.

It wasn't truly horrible, and I thought for time I might get through it. But then, I decided that my age, my remaining time on earth was too short to waste on such dated dreck.

I made it 40% of the way through the book, so technically it belongs on the "gave up" bookshelf. But I invested enough time into it and another book on which I "gave up", that I decided one should be counted for my reading for the year and one in the discard pile, where it belongs.

[Jennifer Dudley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was given to me by my Grandmother who was an 8th grade english teacher. This made me feel so big it had way more than 100 pages. I was in 4th grade at the time and dyslexic so did not read much. But Wow I was so inthralled with the story that my school teachers had to pry it out of my hands so I would do my school work, once home my parents gave up and let me read till the last page.

Later I found myself using some of the teachings of Ready which he thought the family for survival on the island. I highly recommend it to any one but especially young people who are still learning about logic, and systematic thinking.

A must read! I have read over ten times in my life so far.

[Amy Griffith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Among my favorite Marryat books. Similar to Swiss Family Robinson or Robinson Crusoe but a bit easier to read.