Joseph Conrad; ca. 1883

Conrad (we shall call him Conrad with C from now on; his childhood as little Konrad had ended) did not leave anything in Poland which he really missed. Although his realtionship to Uncle Tadeusz, to his grandmother Teofila Bobrowska and to other relatives was familiar and good, he did not have a real family anymore, hardly friends, a school which did not interest him and in addition: A call to serve in the Russian Army was more than possible.

So he reached Marseille as a youngster, totally free and without loads. Some people say he has abandoned his home country, but there was no real homeland for him. It was a Russian colony which he had left. He had made his own way, nothing more, and this way had led him to Southern France. Some critics believe the fact that some of his later works deal with betrayal and trust and blame is the evidence that he was thinking about his own escape from Poland when he wrote this stories. It is hard to believe in this and it is not very likely.

The subject of betrayal and trust is also a heavy factor when it comes to life at sea - Conrad's new life - and the life he was living for the next twenty years. At sea it is a major point being able to trust your fellow crew-member. Without this there would not be any working seamanship. Much more than ashore one is very close to each other - even in a physical way - and the behavior of your comrads is a critical point when it comes to the functionality of marine business. Not just a few young people - excited at first - give up their passion for ships and sea, not because of wind and waves, but because of the untrustful and betraying behavior of their comrads. Conrad did find a large variety of these cruelties aboard his ships - and did mention these later in his books. However, in 'A Personal Record', he wrote:

'I have the conviction that there are men of unstained rectitude who are ready to murmur scornfully the word desertion. Thus the taste of innocent adventure may be made bitter to the palate. The part of the inexplicable should be al lowed for in appraising the conduct of men in a world where no explanation is final. No charge of faithlessness ought to be lightly uttered ...'

Tadeusz Bobrowski had not let his nephew go without any shelter. He had contacted the French Marine Authorities und had asked for some help - in particular for the first time. So Conrad had a first place to go, a first goal. The fact that he already spoke fluently French was of great help as well.

The first friend in France which Conrad met was the seaman Baptistin Solary. Aboard his ship Conrad took his very first small trips, however, because Solary was working as a pilot, these have been small trips between harbour and roadstead. Yet Conrad had enjoyed the first weeks in Marseille. Also he enjoyed his visits to the charming Cafe's and Bistro's. Some desperate money-transfers from Uncle Tadeusz to Conrad tell us about this. Conrad's favorite place was the 'Café de l'Universe', owned by Monsieur Boyer, who had many well-known painters and authors among his guests.