Jozef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski was born in Ukraine in 1857.

His parents, ardent Polish patriots, died when he was a child, after the Tsar had exiled them for their anti-Russian activities.

Then his uncle, Thaddeus Bobrowski, took care of him for the next twenty-five years.

In May 1873, the young Jozef leaves for a three-months-long stay in northern Italy. This is his first view of the sea, and the beginning of a passion.

In 1874, after his uncle Thaddeus had finally conceded to his nephew's desire to sail, Conrad went to Marseilles, where he served in French merchant vessels.

His first service, as an apprentice on the Mont-Blanc, brings him to La Martinique. From schooner to schooner, Conrad acquires finally (with three other men) the Tremolino which carries arms illegally to the supporters of Don Carlos, the Spanish pretender, and after attempting to suicide by shooting himself through the chest, he joins a British ship in 1879.

Second mate on the Narcissus, in 1884 he sails to Bombay. Back to England in 1886, he obtains the British citizenship together with a Master's certificate of the British Merchant Service.

He writes then his first work, "The Black Mate," sails to Singapore, Borneo, Bangkok, and takes his first command on the Otago (Bangkok -Sydney -Mauritius- Port Adelaide), an experience described in The Shadow-Line, Victory, "The Secret Sharer," "A Smile of Fortune," ,"Lord Jim" and other works.