The Mirror of the Sea

First published in 1906, "The Mirror of the Sea" was the first of Joseph Conrad's two autobiographical memoirs.

When Joseph Conrad was discharged from the clipper Torrens in London during the summer of 1893, his seafaring career was over. He had travelled the world by then, risen in rank from apprentice to captain, survived shipwreck and turbulent seas. But after nineteen years afloat he longed for the land, and wrote to his cousin of the 'uniform grey of my existence'. Once ashore, however, vivid memories of his past life began to surface. While steam and internal combustion were changing maritime travel forever, Conrad started to reflect on the voyages he had made in the Golden Age of Sail. "The Mirror of the Sea" is a personal meditation on the sea and its meanings by one of the twentieth century's most important novelists.