Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- List of Maps
- Note on Geographical Names
- Genealogies
- Chronology
- Conrad’s Sea Voyages
- Joseph Conrad A Life
- I In the Shadow of Alien Ghosts: 1857–1874
- II In Marseilles: 1874–1878
- III The Red Ensign: 1878–1886
- IV Master in the British Merchant Marine: 1886–1890
- V To the End of the Night: 1890
- VI The Sail and the Pen: 1891–1894
- VII Work and Romance: 1894–1896
- VIII Strivings, Experiments, Doubts: 1896–1898
- IX Ford, The Pent, and Jim: 1898–1900
- X Difficult Maturity: 1900–1904
- XI Uphill: 1904–1909
- XII Crisis and Success: 1910–1914
- XIII Journey to Poland: 1914
- XIV The War and the Memories: 1914–1919
- XV Hope and Resignation: 1919–1924
- Epilogue
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Bibliographical Note
- Index of Names
- Index of Subjects
- Illustration Credits
- Plate section
III - The Red Ensign: 1878–1886
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 March 2023
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- List of Maps
- Note on Geographical Names
- Genealogies
- Chronology
- Conrad’s Sea Voyages
- Joseph Conrad A Life
- I In the Shadow of Alien Ghosts: 1857–1874
- II In Marseilles: 1874–1878
- III The Red Ensign: 1878–1886
- IV Master in the British Merchant Marine: 1886–1890
- V To the End of the Night: 1890
- VI The Sail and the Pen: 1891–1894
- VII Work and Romance: 1894–1896
- VIII Strivings, Experiments, Doubts: 1896–1898
- IX Ford, The Pent, and Jim: 1898–1900
- X Difficult Maturity: 1900–1904
- XI Uphill: 1904–1909
- XII Crisis and Success: 1910–1914
- XIII Journey to Poland: 1914
- XIV The War and the Memories: 1914–1919
- XV Hope and Resignation: 1919–1924
- Epilogue
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Bibliographical Note
- Index of Names
- Index of Subjects
- Illustration Credits
- Plate section
Summary
The Red Ensign! In the pellucid, colourless atmosphere bathing the drab and gray masses of that southern land, the livid islets, the sea of pale glassy blue under the pale glassy sky of that cold sunrise, it was as far as the eye could reach the only spot of ardent colour—flame-like, intense, and presently as minute as the tiny red spark the concentrated reflection of a great fire kindles in the clear heart of a globe of crystal. The Red Ensign—the symbolic, protecting warm bit of bunting flung wide upon the seas, and destined for so many years to be the only roof over my head.
This is How, more than thirty years later, Conrad described his first encounter with the ensign of the British Merchant Marine. Contrary to the legend he wished to create, his joining an English ship was not the result of a previously formed decision, “if a seaman, then an English seaman.”At the same time it was not entirely accidental: in those days over half of all ships afloat in the world belonged to the British fleet; since sailors were in considerable demand, no special permits were required for enlisting foreigners, who, as a rule, were less demanding, more tractable, and ready to accept lower wages.
The voyage of the small steamer Mavis (763 tons), which Konrad Korzeniowski boarded on 24 April 1878 in Marseilles, was somewhat mysterious.
On the basis of press notices we can establish that the Mavis reached Malta on 26 or 27 April; on the 27th she left for Constantinople, arriving there on 2 May en route to Kerch in the Crimea; she passed through the Straits of Kerch on 6 May heading for Yeysk, on the Sea of Azov; passed the Dardanelles again on 22 May, and four days later left Malta for England, passing Dungeness on 8 June on her way to Lowestoft. However, the ship’s documents record solely the forty-seven-day voyage from Marseilles to Lowestoft.
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- Joseph ConradA Life, pp. 69 - 111Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2007