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        Józef Teodor Konrad Nalecz Korzeniowski was born of Polish parents in the Ukrainian town of Berdichev on 3rd December 1857, one year after the defeat of Russia in the Crimean War. The name 'Jozef' was that of his maternal grandfather, while 'Teodor' came from his paternal grandfather, Teodor Korzeniowski, who had been a lieutenant of cavalry in Napolean's campaign against Russia. 'Konrad' was the name of the hero of a patriotic Polish poem.
        In 1861 Conrad's father, Apollo Korzeniowski, a Polish revolutionary patriot and dissident poet, was arrested for conspiracy by the Russian authorities and was exiled with his family to Vologda in northern Russia. His mother died of tuberculosis, aged 32 on 18th April, 1865.
        In 1868 Apollo was released from exile and moved to Cracow in Poland where he died of tuberculosis on 23rd May 1869. Thousands attended his funeral.
    Conrad then became the ward of his maternal uncle, Tadeusz Bobrowski, a wealthy and influential landowner, and was tutored by a medical student with whom he traveled in Poland, Switzerland, Bavaria, Austria and Italy. It was in a Swiss boarding house in 1873 that Conrad first heard English spoken, by some British engineers.
        He left school, and Poland, in 1874, aged 16. Although a Pole, at the age of 21 he would become liable, as the son of a political convict, for conscription into the Russian army. Wishing to escape such a liability and to serve instead in the Austrian navy, he applied for, but was refused, Austrian citizenship. In October 1874 he traveled by train to Marseilles where proximity to the sea improved his health. He learned French, seamanship and, financed by his uncle to the tune of 2,000 Francs and more each year (a naval lieutenant's salary!), how to spend money.
        Conrad's friends in Marseilles included a wealthy ship-owning family, who supported the Carlist cause in Spain, and a group of bohemian artists who helped him become acquainted with the theatre and opera. He began his seaman's apprenticeship as an observer on harbour pilot boats and within two months he was taking his first ocean voyage.
        He sailed on three voyages between 1874 and 1877, in two ships owned by the Delestang family, first as a passenger, then as an apprentice seaman and lastly as a steward. On the strength of these three voyages Conrad obtained from the ship-owners a letter of commendation, misleadingly crediting him with 'three years constant service' as midshipman and lieutenant, which he later used as evidence of his qualification for the second mate's examination in the British merchant navy.
        He was prevented by illness from signing on for a fourth voyage, and between February 1877 and February 1878, he stayed in Marseilles, where, through gambling and over-spending, he accumulated debts which he relied on his uncle's financial support to repay. He also lost 3,000 Francs of his uncle's money through speculative investment in a smuggling operation, in which he played an active role. He had lied about his age, representing himself as 21 when in fact he was 19, and was prevented from going to sea again in a French ship when it was discovered that he had no sailing permit from the Russian consul, which was a legal requirement as he was considered liable for Russian military service. He then borrowed more money from a friend, which he gambled and lost, and staged a clumsy suicide attempt by shooting himself in the chest. His uncle immediately traveled to Marseilles and paid off his debts.
        In April 1878, Conrad signed on as an ordinary seaman in an English steamship and two months later arrived in Lowestoft, stepping onto English soil for the first time. After three coastal voyages in a coal schooner, he went to London where he bribed a shipping agent (in breach of the law) to find him employment on an ocean-going vessel.
        In 1880 he passed the examination for second mate but was only able to find employment as third mate.
         Back in London in 1889, he began his first novel, `Almayer's Folly', but interrupted this work to visit Africa--a dream he had had since childhood. He commanded a steamboat on the Congo River, and, though he became very ill for awhile, the adventure provided him with the seed of his most famous story, `Heart of Darkness', published in 1899.
        Under his anglicized name of Joseph Conrad, he published `Almayer's Folly' in April 1895. It did not sell well but got critical praise. However, he was soon to write his finest novels--`Lord Jim' (1900), `Nostromo' (1904), `Secret Agent' (1907), and `Under Western Eyes' (1911). In 1919 he settled in Bishopsbourne, England, where he died on Aug. 3, 1924. His influence was felt long after his death.

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