9 h 31 minAudiobook13 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 9 h 31 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
An icebound ship, a brooding captain, and a doctor's journal: how long can reason hold against the unknown?
In Arthur Conan Doyle's The Captain of the Polestar, and Other Tales, cold seas and strange events test the limits of reason. The title story follows John M'Alister Ray, a young doctor aboard an Arctic whaler. His journal tries to keep a rational account, while Captain Nicholas Craigie carries a private burden and the ice closes around their ship.
The collection also includes J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement, Doyle's version of the deserted Mary Celeste mystery, and The Great Keinplatz Experiment. In the latter, Professor von Baumgarten tests the boundaries of mind and soul. Across these stories, Doyle's calm, exact manner makes disturbing events feel close, whether the setting is an abandoned deck or a university.
What you’ll discover
- A journal among the ice Follow Ray's careful observations as Arctic isolation puts his rational outlook under pressure.
- A captain with secrets Meet Nicholas Craigie, the stern whaler's master whose private burden deepens the title story's unease.
- Testimony from a deserted ship Enter Jephson's account, where fellow passenger Septimus Goring draws his attention and suspicion.
- The mind under examination Watch Professor von Baumgarten pursue a daring experiment in mesmerism, mind, and soul.
- Fear in a quiet voice Discover how Doyle's restrained, doctor-like precision brings the strange within unsettling reach.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy ghost stories, sea yarns, clever puzzles and mysteries told by nervous narrators will love this collection. It also suits Sherlock Holmes fans drawn to Doyle's stranger side.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A ghost on the ice grips the Polestar
- A ship found empty and a doctor's account
- A professor tries to part soul from body
- A scholar who hates people saves a stranger
- Two men and a box on a Boston steamer
- A small idea in Spain ruins a Devon factory
- A failed writer dreams of great novelists
- A brilliant student meets a mysterious woman
- A parson cleans up a rough mining camp
- A night in the Louvre among the mummies
Who’s who
- Captain Nicholas CraigieThe restless, well-read whaling captain of the Pole-Star, who will not leave the ice and keeps a private sorrow no one can name.
- John M'Alister RayThe young ship's doctor who keeps the journal, trusts science, and tries to explain away every strange sound and sight.
- Septimius GoringA cultured, fingerless passenger on the Marie Celeste who studies charts and watches the doctor, with aims he hides.
- Professor von BaumgartenA famous physiologist who wants to prove that the soul can leave the body and return.
- Kate NorthcottA beautiful, strong-willed Edinburgh woman with cold gray eyes, whose suitors suffer misfortune.
- Elias B. HopkinsA pale newcomer to a mining camp who digs badly, reads Scripture loudly, and wants a Sunday service.
- John Vansittart SmithA birdlike English scholar of many interests who falls asleep in the Louvre and wakes to a strange sight.
- MaryJohn Huxford's faithful sweetheart, who keeps a cottage ready and refuses to believe he has abandoned her.
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Il capitano della Stella Polare e altri racconti
by Arthur Conan Doyle · 1890
A ship frozen in Arctic ice, a haunted wake, and a captain who sees a woman no one else can.
Medium level5–10 hours to readItaliano
Excellent
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In short
What would you do if your captain stared across the ice at a ghost no one else could see, and still refused to sail for home? That is the scene that gives this book its name.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A ghost on the ice grips the Polestar
The first tale is a ship's diary kept by John M'Alister Ray, a medical student serving as surgeon on a whaler. In September the Pole-Star lies locked among ice fields north of Spitsbergen. Food is running short, and the crew wants to go home.
Captain Nicholas Craigie refuses to leave. He swears he has seen whales just beyond one strip of ice, and he wants his fortune. Strange sounds spread through the ship. The second mate tells of a tall white figure on the ice, and Ray blames a bear on its hind legs.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 13 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1890
- Language
- Italiano
- Reading time
- 6 h 10 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Captain of the Polestar, and Other Tales. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-captain-of-the-polestar-and-other-tales.
Doyle, A. C. (2026). The captain of the Polestar, and other tales. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-captain-of-the-polestar-and-other-tales (Original work published 1890)
Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Captain of the Polestar, and Other Tales. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-captain-of-the-polestar-and-other-tales.
@book{doyle2026captain,
author = {Doyle, Arthur Conan},
title = {The Captain of the Polestar, and Other Tales},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-captain-of-the-polestar-and-other-tales},
note = {First published 1890}
}
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What is The Captain of the Polestar and Other Tales about?
It is a set of ten short tales by Arthur Conan Doyle that mix ghosts, sea mysteries, comedy, and love. They include a haunted whaler, the drifting Marie Celeste, a mesmerism experiment, a mining-camp preacher, and a midnight in the Louvre.
Is the Marie Celeste story based on a real event?
It starts from the real mystery of the Mary Celeste, found abandoned in 1872 and towed into Gibraltar. Doyle invents the passenger Habakuk Jephson and his statement, so the explanation is fiction built on a true mystery.
Who is Captain Nicholas Craigie?
He is the whaling captain of the Pole-Star in the title story, a brave, well-read, restless man who keeps his past secret and sees a vision across the ice. His ship's doctor records his behavior in a diary.
The author
Arthur Conan Doyle
1859–1930 · British detective novelist
Arthur Conan Doyle was a British writer and physician born in Edinburgh in 1859. He practised medicine in England and wrote novels, short stories and histories. His Sherlock Holmes stories began with A Study in Scarlet in 1887. He also wrote The Lost World in 1912. He died in Crowborough, England, in 1930.
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