Joseph Conrad's long experience as a working seaman enriched and deepened his literary gifts, making him the most brilliant and convincing writer of seafaring's greatest age. In this novella he makes deft use of the maritime setting to enact moral dramas of men tested by the elements and by one another. Typhoon clearely shares autobiographical origins in Conrad's experience at sea and his exile from Poland, the country of his birth. It is the gripping story of a steamship captain who stubbornly steers into a major tempest and the crew's ensuing struggle to survive the raging waters. A masterpiece of literature.