Joseph Conrad (3 December 1857 - 3 August 1924) was a Polish author who wrote in English after settling in England. Conrad is regarded as one of the greatest novelists in English, though he did not speak the language fluently until he was in his twenties (and always with a marked accent). He wrote stories and novels, often with a nautical setting, that depicted trials of the human spirit in the midst of an indifferent universe.