Read "The Captain of the "Polestar"" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
(BEING AN EXTRACT FROM THE SINGULAR JOURNAL OF JOHN M'ALISTER RAY, / STUDENT OF MEDICINE.)
_September 11th._ -- Lat. 81 deg. 40' N.; long. 2 deg. E. Still lying-to amid / enormous ice fields. The one which stretches away to the north of us, / and to which our ice-anchor is attached, cannot be smaller than an / English county. To the right and left unbroken sheets extend to the / horizon. This morning the mate reported that there were signs of pack / ice to the southward. Should this form of sufficient thickness to bar / our return, we shall be in a position of danger, as the food, I hear, is / already running somewhat short. It is late in the season, and the nights / are beginning to reappear. This morning I saw a star twinkling just over / the fore-yard, the first since the beginning of May. There is / considerable discontent among the crew, many of whom are anxious to get / back home to be in time for the herring season, when labour always / commands a high price upon the Scotch coast. As yet their displeasure is / only signified by sullen countenances and black looks, but I heard from / the second mate this afternoon that they contemplated sending a / deputation to the Captain to explain their grievance. I much doubt how / he will receive it, as he is a man of fierce temper, and very sensitive / about anything approaching to an infringement of his rights. I shall / venture after dinner to say a few words to him upon the subject. I have / always found that he will tolerate from me what he would resent from any / other member of the crew. Amsterdam Island, at the north-west corner of / Spitzbergen, is visible upon our starboard quarter -- a rugged line of / volcanic rocks, intersected by white seams, which represent glaciers. It / is curious to think that at the present moment there is probably no / human being nearer to us than the Danish settlements in the south of / Greenland -- a good nine hundred miles as the crow flies. A captain takes / a great responsibility upon himself when he risks his vessel under such / circumstances. No whaler has ever remained in these latitudes till so / advanced a period of the year.