The life of Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski reads like an adventure story, an adventure story written by somebody like Joseph Conrad.

During the twenty years from the time that he left Poland in October 1874 until he signed off his last vessel in January 1894, Konrad had worked in ships. For fifteen of those years he served under the Red Ensign as a British merchant seaman and Konrad describes it as ‘the finest day in his life’ when in 1880 and at the age of twenty-three he received his certificate as a second mate in the British Merchant Navy. Eventually Konrad would make his home in England and apply for British nationality which was granted in 1886.

Read more