Joseph Conrad 
Shadow Line 
A Confession

The Shadow Line is a novella by Joseph Conrad. A young man becomes captain of a ship in the Orient, and his experiences bring him to the threshold of his development into maturity: the shadow line. The story contrasts the young man and his expectations with the wiser experience of his elders. The novella has been read as a comment on the first world war, because of its preoccupation with camaraderie in the face of prolonged hardship.