Other editions of book The Secret Sharer

"The Secret Sharer" is a short story by Polish-British author Joseph Conrad, originally written in 1909 and first published in two parts in Harper's Magazine in 1910. It was later included in the short story collection Twixt Land and Sea (1912). The story was adapted for a segment of the 1952 film Face to Face, and also for a one-act play in 1969 by C. R. (Chuck) Wobbe. The play was published in 1969 by the Dramatic Publishing Company. A new film, Secret Sharer, inspired by the story and directed by Peter Fudakowski, was released in the United Kingdom in June 2014.

One of the greatest English writers of the 19th century was a Polish-born man who couldn’t even speak English fluently until he had entered adulthood. Nevertheless, Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) went on to have a well-regarded literary career that bridged Romanticism and Modernism while also covering the zenith and twilight of the British empire. Conrad used his experience within the British empire to write novels and stories that often used the sea and navy as a setting, juxtaposing the individual human spirit with the collective duty and honor of the British navy. And though it was a second-language, Conrad mastered English prose.

The Secret Sharer is a short story by Joseph Conrad written in 1909 The story takes place on a sailing ship in the Gulf of Siam (now the Gulf of Thailand), at the start of a voyage with cargo for Britain. The date is probably in the 1880s (when Conrad was at sea himself). In common with many of Conrad's stories, it is narrated in the first person. The narrator is the ship's young captain, and he is unfamiliar with both his ship and his crew, having joined the ship only a fortnight earlier. He is unsure of his ability to exert his authority over the officers and crew who have been together for some time, and makes the point several times that he is the "stranger" on board. The story has a theme seen in some other Conrad stories (Lord Jim, Nostromo) of the hero facing a decision and drifting into the one which is "wrong" by normal social standards, a lapse from the rules he is expected to follow. The decision by the captain to conceal Leggatt is the hinge point of this story. While the reader is likely to believe that Leggatt does not deserve to be convicted of murder, there is no doubt that the captain, as the representative of the law on his ship, was breaking all the rules in concealing Leggatt. For the sake of a man whom he had known for only 15 minutes, and after hearing only this man's version of events, the captain takes an enormous risk of ruining his own career and reputation. Yet interestingly, there is no clear point at which the decision is made. Although our narrator is speaking his thoughts, fears and doubts, he never says "I decided to conceal Leggatt". When they move from the deck to the cabin, it seems at first only to get Leggatt dry and to hear his story more fully, but the situation somehow drifts into one of concealment. This happens when they instinctively lower their voices on hearing the footsteps of the second mate (who has now taken over the watch) on the deck overhead. "I, too, spoke under my breath" the captain says – from that point the conspiracy is in place. Despite the captain's fears, it is clear that no-one else in the ship has any suspicion of the secret even to the end. It is even possible to see Leggatt as entirely a figment of the captain's imagination, a doppelgänger, or a ghost – perhaps Leggatt actually drowned and sank after reaching our ship's side. At the end of the story, when Leggatt drops into the sea from a stern porthole, we do not even know if he survives the long swim to the Indo-China shore, to start a new life. from wikipedia

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