Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) came from a Polish family and was born in present-day Berdychiv, Ukraine. After the death of his parents, who had fought against the Russian occupation, he moved to England in 1878; it was here that he began to learn English. After having to give up his career as a sea officer due to a chronic fever illness, he worked as a writer starting in 1890; his first novel "Almayer's Folly" was published in 1895. The extensive narrative "The End of the Tether" belongs to Conrad's early work, which is still completely shaped by the author's sea experiences, and was published in 1902.