The romantic view of seamanship is that the crew stays with the ship through all types of weather and problems. Yet in 1880, an event occurred that shook this romantic belief across the world. The abandonment of the Jeddah steamship, along with its thousand Muslim pilgrims, caused civilians around the world to question the veracity of this ideal. As an aspiring modernist writer, Conrad attempted to transform the real-life character of AP Williams, Jeddah's second mate, into the fictional character of Lord Jim, hoping to shed light on a hero's inner conflict failure and what it means to be human. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned"?Get the original essayNorman Sherry's research on Lord Jim and the factual account of Jeddah shows several similarities between Jim's character and that of AP Williams. Sherry states that "Everything I have been able to find out about him... suggests that he was Conrad's inspiration for the entire first part of the novel... Williams' journey is, in fact, identical to that of Lord Jim” ( Sherry 336). Both were raised by a minister and “it seems likely that [Williams] went on a training ship for merchant navy officers, as did Lord Jim” (337). Conrad's use of A.P. Williams' background for the character of Jim was not a coincidence and would not have been overlooked at the time of publication. Using virtually the same character and the same narrative of the ship's desertion, Conrad creates a world in which he can offer a critique of the Jeddah's fallible crew. In doing so, he is sure to offer Jim salvation by pleading his case as a man who did not act out of fear - a natural human emotion. At the time of the Jeddah incident, the press did not consider it a scandal. natural fight or flight response. While Conrad believes that Jim's actions were motivated by fear, the media were convinced that Jeddah's desertion had broken the sailor's code of ethics. Initially, before the Jeddah arrived with her survivors, the Globe, published in London, reported the loss with these headlines: "CATASTROPHE EFFECT AT SEA. LOSS OF NEARLY 1,000 LIVES" (The Globe). After the Jeddah arrived safely in Aden, The Times, also based in London, published: “There was something very disagreeable in the facts thus exposed; for, for the honor of sailors, nothing is rarer than that, in a disaster at sea, the captain and principal officers of the ship should be the chief or sole survivors” (London Times). Clearly, Jeddah's desertion came as a shock to other sailors and civilians throughout Europe. Clearly no action was taken to save the pilgrims on board, which was appalling, and the incident was investigated. Nearly twenty years later, Conrad brought this controversial story to the forefront in Lord Jim to depict an individual acting out of fear. Typical of a modernist writer, Conrad was more concerned with the moral struggle within a single man than with the cultural values ​​against which sailors are measured. Author Gustav Morf writes: “Lord Jim is more than a novel, it is a confession. As the confession of a man tortured by nightmarish doubts and fears, it must be understood, if it is to be understood” (Morf). The character of Jim is engaged all his life in a fight against his conscience; his guilt accompanies him wherever he goes. Conrad portrays Jim as a failed hero, who had the chance to save the Pilgrims on the fictional SS Patna, but fled instead. Jim is agitated after his abandonment, not only because hefailed, but also because he is ashamed of what others will think of his cowardice. Captain Brierly condemns Jim for his actions when he says, "Frankly, I don't care for any pilgrims who ever came from Asia, but an honest man wouldn't have behaved like that when faced with a shipload full of old rags. bullets" (Conrad 42). Although this statement shows, according to Brierly, the racist characterizations that imply that Muslims were less than human reinforce the idea that abandoning ship is wrong, no matter how a sailor feels at the time. Regarding the cargo, the official statement from the captain of the Jeddah, Captain Joseph Clark, states: "The pilgrims armed themselves with knives and clubs...I have been informed of their deliberate intention to do so. 'murder my wife... I asked one of my officers to put her in one of the boats. Immediately after that, when it was time to lower the boat, the pilgrims generally rushed in and I was. pushed into the boat during which I received several serious blows” (Sherry 310). Clark's statement stands in stark contrast to Patna's fictional account. In Conrad's tale, Jim allowed the pilgrims to sleep peacefully; he made “no noise for fear of creating panic” (Conrad 18). Conrad's choice to describe the Muslims as calm and quiet proves that there was probably no threat of violence on Jeddah and that the desertion had another reason. Thanks to Lord Jim, it seems that Conrad thinks the men abandoned ship because they were afraid of drowning. Even at the time of the trial, popular opinion was that the crew abandoned ship out of fear of drowning, not because of an attack. . GR Goodfellow, the judge judging the Jeddah's crew, explains precisely why the crew was motivated by fear to abandon ship. The court ruled that the Jeddah's boiler mountings were defective, which caused them to fail and cause a leak in the bottom of the ship. The court found that due to the rough seas and the constant rocking of the ship, the water that had seeped inside appeared to be more than it actually was. Both the chief engineer and the captain were negligent in paying sufficient attention to the boilers; rather, they prepared the boats. Thus, a large part of the responsibility for the incident is placed on them. “In ordering the boats, [the captain] led the passengers to believe that the ship was likely to flounder…” (Sherry 323). Until Clark boarded the boat, "it is evident that the Pilgrims had not shown any violence or even a show of force toward anyone on board" (323) until the Pilgrims realize they were stuck. The pilgrims saw the crew deserting, went on a rampage and tried to invade the other boats. The pilgrims reacted this way because the only people who could help them in this situation were leaving them. Like Captain Clark of the Jeddah, Jim has difficulty admitting that he deserted the ship when he thought it was sinking, because he cannot justify his decision. actions by the violence of the pilgrims. Jim's inner turmoil is evident when he describes these Muslims, so calm that they seemed lifeless: "He stood... watching the silent company of the dead." They were dead! Nothing could save them” (Conrad 53). His desperation shows a young man conflicted about what his action should be. He wanted to be a hero, but the impossibility of the situation seemed to prevent any noble action from taking place. This is when the natural fight or flight response took place. He knew unconsciously that in a battle between him and the sea, the, 1965.