It’s hard to understand why this book hasn’t been written before: an account of Joseph Conrad’s life at sea. The author of Typhoon, Nostromo, and Heart of Darkness, to name just three classics, this Polish-born son of an anti-Tsarist rebel is a fascinating character.

And fortunately for the reader, the man who decided to write such a book, was the late Alan Villiers – himself a great seaman and adventurer in Tall Ship rig – excellent writer and, a fact often overlooked, an inspired reporter.

Villiers died before he could get the book published but that task has been undertaken by his son Peter who has completed the job. Joseph Conrad Master Mariner, by Peter Villiers, published by Seafarer at £14.95 ISBN 0 954706293