Dangerous Work

Product Description

In February 1880 when Arthur Conan Doyle was only twenty years old he embarked upon the first real outstanding adventure in my life seven months as a ships surgeon on an Arctic whaler. The voyage took the young Conan Doyle into unknown regions & plunged him into dangerous & bloody work on the ice floes of the Arctic seas. His unforgettable adventure was echoed in a number of his early landmarks as a writer. A ghost story based on the experience The Captain of the Pole-Star got him noticed in publishing circles as a promising young writer & a magazine article called The Glamour of the Arctic won him the respect of intrepid Arctic explorers. During the voyage Conan Doyle kept a detailed diary. This incredible document hidden from public view for more than a century is written in his clear handwriting & is illustrated with many charming pen-&-ink sketches of scenes of life on board & of the sea-creatures & other sights he saw. It provides a vivid account of the coming of age of the young man who would go on to create Sherlock Holmes & of a life at sea that no longer exists. This book will feature a facsimile of this remarkable diary with a transcript as well as several non-fiction & fiction pieces based on the experience including the Sherlock Holmes story The Adventure of the Black Peter. It will also include photographs of the ship its captain & young Conan Doyle on deck. The publication of this unknown diary will be welcomed by all fans of Arthur Conan Doyle.