ACD and Whaling

On March 22nd I attended a talk on Conan Doyle and the whale which was held at the National Liberal Club in London. The talk did not exactly revolve around Conan Doyle but used him as a starting point from which to discuss the whole whaling industry which, when Conan Doyle experienced it, was starting (mercifully) to decline.

Conan Doyle (far right) on the Hope

The speaker, Philip Hoare, clearly knew his subject and the audience were left in no doubt of the impact the experience had on Conan Doyle at a time when his writing career did not really even exist. He was still yet to qualify as a doctor at this point.

The interesting news of the evening was that Conan Doyle's Whaling diary (from which we heard some excerpts) is soon to be published.