Before he published his first novel in 1895, Joseph Conrad spent 20 years in the merchant navy, eventually obtaining his master's ticket and commanding a full-rigged ship. This book tells the story of his career at sea, and shows how Captain Jozef Konrad Korzeniowski, master mariner, became Joseph Conrad, master novelist. Alan Villiers, author of such classics as Cruise of the Conrad and The Way of a Ship, was uniquely qualified to comment on Conrad's life at sea. Like Conrad himself, he was both highly regarded author and master mariner in the days of the square rigger. This study started by Alan Villiers before his death in 1982, has now been completed by his son, Peter Villiers. This is a unique document, providing not only a new analysis of Conrad as mariner but also a wealth of detail about the merchant navy in the late nineteenth century - the economics of sail, the cargoes, the competition with steam, the skill, the difficulty and the danger involved in manoeuvring a clipper under sail.
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