The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rattlin the Reefer, by Edward Howard

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Title: Rattlin the Reefer

Author: Edward Howard

Editor: Frederick Marryat

Release Date: May 22, 2007 [EBook #21578]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RATTLIN THE REEFER ***

Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England

Rattlin the Reefer, by Edward Howard, and edited by Captain Marryat.

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Captain Frederick Marryat was born July 10 1792, and died August 8 1848.
He retired from the British navy in 1828 in order to devote himself to
writing. In the following 20 years he wrote 26 books, many of which are
among the very best of English literature, and some of which are still
in print.

Marryat had an extraordinary gift for the invention of episodes in his
stories. He says somewhere that when he sat down for the day's work, he
never knew what he was going to write. He certainly was a literary
genius.

"Rattlin The Reefer" was published in 1838, the twelfth book to flow
from Marryat's pen. It had been written by Edward Howard, but needed a
good deal of polishing before it could be published, which Marryat did.
There is distinctly more flowery language than was normal with Marryat,
and there are many long and unusual words that are not found elsewhere
in Marryat's work. There is also a great use of Latin phrases to
describe the action, most of which, fortunately, are little more than
dog-Latin (i.e. the meaning can easily be decried).

This e-text was transcribed in 1998 by Nick Hodson, and was reformatted
in 2003, and again in 2005.

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RATTLIN THE REEFER, BY EDWARD HOWARD, AND EDITED BY CAPTAIN FREDERICK
MARRYAT.

CHAPTER ONE.

I BEGIN A LIFE WITHOUT A SIMILITUDE WITH A SIMILE--START OFF WITH FOUR
HORSES--AND, FINALLY, I MAKE MY FIRST APPEARANCE ON ANY STAGE, UNDER THE
PROTECTION OF THE "CROWN."

In the volume I am going to write, it is my intention to adhere rigidly
to the truth--this will be _bona fide_ an autobiography--and, as the
public like novelty, an autob