Joseph Conrad was a Polish-British writer regarded as one of the greatest novelists to write in the English language. These works are unique in Conrad's oeuvre in being openly autobiographical - but in scope and literary form, they differ widely. In The Mirror of the Sea Conrad explores his vast knowledge of the sea in an era when the sailing ship gave way, after thousands of years, to steam. A Personal Record is Conrad's account of himself, his cultural background, and the central motives in his life as a seaman and a writer separated from the country where he was born.