Showing results for "Secret Sharers" in Literature & Fiction

In this gripping tale, an inexperienced ship captain discovers a man named Leggatt clinging to his vessel. Taking an unexpected course of action, the Captain conceals Leggatt in his own quarters. What could lead him to such a decision? Discover the intriguing answers in Conrads The Secret Sharer, first published in the August and September 1910 issues of Harper’s Magazine. Brought to you by the captivating narration of Gregg Margarite.

In the late 19th century, a sea captain on his first voyage in the Gulf of Siam, on an unfamiliar ship, with a crew of strangers, takes aboard a fugitive stowaway. He must conceal his presence from the sailors with whom he shares this ship, and so he and the stowaway become conspirators. The young captain must challenge his own morality and the sworn obligations of a sea captain. He must decide who he wants to be as a man and as a moral actor in the arduous undertaking of endeavoring to deliver this fugitive to safety.

When the new captain takes over command of his first ship for the homeward voyage from the Gulf of Siam, he surprises his crew by taking the first nightwatch himself. While alone on deck he is surprised to find a lone swimmer in the sea who comes on board. The stranger is a murderer escaping justice, but is also eerily an almost exact doppelganger of the captain himself. Not only does he look identical, but the two almost seem to share the same thoughts and secrets. Rather than turn his fugitive-double over to the authorities, the captain hides him in his own cabin.

A young sea captain discovers a stowaway - and allows him to stay, eventually seeing in him a reflection of himself. Or perhaps that's all there ever was. Wendy Mullen's contralto voice captures the music of the sea; you'll be mesmerized by the telling and the tale. Conrad is at his best, and Mullen's reading captivates.