Business

This is a short novel named as The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad in which the author is also the narrator and the captain of the ship and here he explains all his endeavors to save a suspected murderer whom he thinks is innocent and also considers him as his other half. We present a short summary and analysis of this novel in terms of business ethics.

A short summary
The novel starts when the ship leaves for the 3 months long journey. The narrator who is also the captain of the ship tell that he has been made a captain all of a sudden just a day ago and has taken a big task of this voyage. He in large details explains the scenario of leaving the ship.

During a meal the captain talks with his other officers and gets to know that there is a ship named as Sephora. The captain knew that his ship mates are very tired, therefore, the newly formed captain asked the shipmates to sleep while he take care of the ship during that time.

During the sail of six hours, he saw a man swimming besides the ship and clinging to the ladder. He let the man in with much astonishment and collecting much courage. The man after boarding explains his story of long prison abroad the ship Sephora. The mans name was Leggatt.

The man was previously a chief mate of ship Sephora and was charged of committing a murder of his second mate. The captain let the stranger on board and gives him his clothes and hides him in his room
Here the captain says that he was least expected to do anything of the sort and that too when he has been a made a captain only a fortnight ago. The captain neither knew the ship properly nor the crew and it was a big risk he took of safeguarding a suspected murderer. The captain claims that he was also one of the strangers on the ship.

The Capitan of the ship was smart enough to hide the person in his room while asking the steward to clean the room as well as carry out his day to day activities. He made certain that the second mate as well as steward became aware that there is nobody else in the room by inviting his officer and making a conversation there.

While  narrating the first day author tells the readers that before all this he woke the supposedly murder up after a sleep of a few hours and asked him to stay in a bathroom and later sit on a stool for a long time as he couldnt go on the deck.

Next day a boat carrying a few man from Sephora came looking for this murderer, the lead of that boat was taken to the captains room where the he explained how the man (second half of captain) escaped and what crime he committed. All this time the murderer was in the captains room listening to the whole conversation, the captain intentionally asked the captain of the boat to speak louder so that he could hear it properly, the captain listened to the talk by the him and intentionally ignored the important questions which might have lead to the capturing of the murderer. The Capitan was actually helping the murderer to escape, after the conversation the captain showed him his room but making sure that the murderer moves from one part of the room to another so that his presence couldnt be known.

The captain of the boat mentioned that he didnt like the man because he was not of the age to be a captain solidifying the claims of the suspected murderer that he was actually involved in the case to remove him from his position.

After the boat left the steward talked and told the captain that the man abroad the boat were thinking that the man might have escaped and not died and might be hiding on the ship. At this the captain was very tensed and realized that he wouldnt be able to hide this man for long on the ship.

Throughout the mans stay on the ship, he stayed in the captains cabin and captain talked to him in whisper making sure that nobody knows of his presence.

After 4 days of complete privacy the murderer decided to leave the ship and asked the captain for his help to escape. The captain made all the necessary arrangements along with changing the course of the ship which was quite unknown and uncertain and put the ship in danger. Day before the murderer left the captain kept looking for land near which he could have been dropped. He brought the ship quite close to the land so close that it was in got into trouble of sinking the ship.

While trying to save the man the captain jeopardized the safty of th ship by bring it to close to the land and since it was dark it became really difficult to decide on how to save it.

Just before the man or the second half as the captain calls him left him , he had given him his hat , when the man jumped into the water and started to swim towards the land, the hat detached from him , the captain was lucky enough to see the hat and save the ship.

Analysis
The captain of the ship took lot of risk in saving an unknown man who himself told that he had been declared a murderer though he made claims that he hadnt killed his second mate on the other ship Spehroa .

The captain not only hid the chief mate of Sephora for a few days in his room but provided him comfort by talking to him and planning his escape. in the light of the business ethics this is not a right thing to do at all. The captain of the ship is like a CEO of a company and his decisions could not just damage the reputation but end the business of the company.

This was not ethically right for the captain of the ship to trust a complete stranger and then safeguard him.
He intentionally was extra rude to his subordinates and took decisions which surprised them,  a business leader or manager may make such decisions because of his far sight but knowingly that his actions werent right was obviously a cause of a concern among his team.

Several of his remarks during the novel and his conversations were off course unethical like murmuring and going to the cabin again and again while the ship is sailing .his actions during this period of time shows his lack of responsibility and attention to the command he was given.

Just before the man also called as a second half of the author was leaving the ship the captain gave him gold coins which were actually to be used for buying food stuff such as fruits for the sailors on board, this also reflects the dishonesty on behalf of the captain that he actually was a cause of depriving the sailors of what he was made in charge of.

On the other hand if you see that the captain was very wise and had a far sight he just by looking at the man knew that he is not guilty of a crime of murder and believed him, this fact was later proved when a sailor from the other ship came to look for this man and told the captian that he never liked the man although he worked for several years.

At one point I also think that the captain was of a very strong character that he hid the danger from the crew on board the ship while saving the man wrongfully committed of murder. The captain also knew that this story of his would always be locked in his heart which should be a strong ethical trait of any good manager or a business man that is not letting

Overall I think that the captain of the ship made a wrong ethical decision of hiding a murderer on his ship. The murderer could have killed him and others to safe himself.

Conclusion
In this essay we have summarized the short novel The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad and analyzed the story. We can easily conclude that the actions taken by the captain of the ship were not ethically right and his conduct to do the business to safeguard his own actions as he was saving a suspected murder not only jeopardized the safety of the ship but also made him a bad captain in the eyes of the officers on board.