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Analysis

The novel was created (in just 2 weeks) while Conrad was writing Under Western Eyes; he wrote the Secret Sharer as a break from his much larger novel that was emotionally difficult for him to write. There are similarities between the two stories, with the Captain and Leggatt becoming Razumov and Haldin respectively. The story originally appeared in Harper's Magazine, under the title "The Secret-Sharer", but Conrad revised the title to make it more ambiguous, making Leggatt secretly share with the captain, rather than merely sharing a secret.

The story contains elements of real events – the chief mate of the Cutty Sark killed another crew-member for insolence during a storm, and was later arrested in London for his murder. Conrad also drew on his own time as captain of the Otago, when his first mate did not trust him, and got a particular scare when Conrad maneuvered the ship dangerously close to rocks in the gulf of Siam.

Many proleptic devices are used that ironically predict what happens in the story. An example of this is when the captain doubts at the start of the story that the ship "was not likely to keep any special surprises", yet it gives him a very special surprise in the form of Leggatt. This technique was commonly used by Conrad.