English

Poor Jack

Much of the action of this book takes place in Greenwich, a river-side suburb of London. "Poor Jack" is a name given to a boy wading in the murky waters at the edge of the river, a boy who calls out to visitors to Greenwich to throw coins into the water, for him to retrieve. At one point the action leads Jack to be out at sea in the Channel between England and France. He and his friend Bramble are taken prisoner, and have a bit of difficulty escaping and getting back to England. The action takes place at the time of Nelson's battles of the Nile and of Trafalgar. Jack's father loses a leg at the Nile, and is pensioned off at the great Seaman's Hospital at Greenwich, a striking building that still exists, though now converted to another use. Jack's mother is a strong character in the story, as is his sister, and several other clearly drawn people. Frederick Marryat was born in Great George Street, Westminster, London on 10th July 1792. His father, Joseph Marryat, was descended from Huguenots who had taken refuge in England following the St. Bartholemew’s Day massacres in 1572, two centuries previously, and his mother was an American from Boston, with the maiden name of Geyer. Frederi

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