The Shadow Line

A young officer receives his first command unexpectedly, a sailing ship waiting for him in an Eastern port, and steps across the invisible line that separates untested youth from hard-won maturity. What should be a proud beginning becomes an ordeal. The ship lies becalmed in the Gulf of Siam, the crew falls sick with fever, and the medicine chest that might save them proves useless. The first mate is convinced the dead former captain has cursed the vessel. Drawing on his own first command, Conrad wrote this taut confession during the First World War and dedicated it to the young men of his son’s generation. Part ghostly sea story, part meditation on responsibility, it counts among his finest short works. This free PDF and EPUB edition offers the complete text.