The opening scene of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is set aboard the 33′ cruising yawl NELLIE anchored in the lower River Thames. The four characters in that scene—and the yawl itself—are based on Conrad’s personal experiences.
It is among the most evocative first lines in literature: “The NELLIE, a cruising yawl, swung to her anchor without a flutter of the sails, and was at rest.” Thus, the scene is set and, as a windless twilight descends upon the lower reaches of the River Thames, a seaman named Marlow spins a yarn for his shipmates. It is the 1890s, just before the coming of small, gasoline engines suitable for yachts, and NELLIE’s captain and crew adapt to nature’s dictates, the ebbing and flooding of the tide, as sailors must.