In this semi-autobiographical coming-of-age tale, Charles Marlow, Joseph Conrad's alter ego, shares the story of his first journey to the East. At the age of twenty, he becomes second mate aboard the ship the Judea. But disaster awaits the vessel after it leaves England, loaded with hundreds of tons of coal on its way to Thailand.
A fierce storm at sea, followed by a fire and explosion, tests Marlow and the Judea's crew, and the account of their hardships on the long journey to Bangkok is a riveting tale of survival from Conrad, a veteran of the British merchant marine and the author of such classics as The Secret Sharer.
