Straight-bladed dirk, which originally belonged to Captain Frederick Marryat (1792-1848) and later to Fleet-Surgeon H.L. Norris (died 1916). The hilt of the dirk consists of a straight crosspiece with inversed quillons, all heavily engraved and ornamented. The dirk has an embossed octagonal gilt pommel. The dirk has a fluted white ivory grip with an engraved gilt band round the centre. The dirk has a prominent tang button. The straight diamond section steel blade has a deep central groove and double-edged spear point.

Captain Frederick Marryat (1792-1848) entered the Royal Navy in September 1806; he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on the 26th December 1812, to Commander on the 13th January 1815, to Captain on the 25th July 1825 and resigned from the Royal Navy in 1830. He is best remembered as a novelist but served in the First Burmese War as Senior Naval Officer at Rangoon in 1824 and was made a CB for his services in Burma. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1819, made a member of the Order of the Legion of Honour in 1833 - both for association with Popham's Code of Signals for Merchantmen. He was also awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Humane Society for Saving Life at Sea in 1818.

The dirk later belonged to Fleet-Surgeon H.L. Norris (died 1916), who was a descendant of Captain Frederick Marryat. Soon after the outbreak of World War I in 1914, all the officers of HMS 'Indefatigable', in which Norris was serving, landed most of their personal belongings at Malta and the dirk remained there until the end of the war. HMS 'Indefatigable' was lost at the Battle of Jutland in 1916 with all of her officers. The dirk was returned to Fleet-Surgeon H.L. Norris's widow who remarried in 1917.