Conrad is a largely enigmatic presence in his novels, but in A Personal Record (1908-9) he decided to introduce his readers to 'the figure behind the veil'. Almost equally revealing is The Mirror of the Sea (1904-6). Both are full of anecdotes and adventures about smuggling arms to Don Carlos, a claimant to the Spanish throne, or characters like the great-uncle who once had to eat a Lithuanian dog during Napoleon's retreat from Moscow. Yet they also let us see from within the young man who broke with his Polish background and was deeply inspired by the resilience and devotion to duty of his fellow British sailors.