Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Doyle was the doctor on the Greenland whaler Hope of Peterhead in 1880. On 11 July 1880 John Gray's Hope and David Gray's Eclipse met up with the Eira and Leigh Smith. The photographer W.J.A. Grant took a photograph aboard the Eira of Doyle along with Smith, the Gray brothers, and ship's surgeon William Neale, who were members of the Smith expedition. That expedition explored Franz Josef Land, and led to the naming, on 18 August, of Cape Flora, Bell Island, Nightingale Sound, Gratton ("Uncle Joe") Island, and Mabel Island.

On board the EIRA in 1880 by courtesy of Arthur Credland Hull Museums. On July 11th 1880 the Eira is on her way to the Arctic when she meets up with two other Peterhead ships, the Hope and the Eclipse. The meeting is recorded in this historic photograph taken on the aft deck of the Eira. From left to right are: David Gray at the helm (Capt. Eclipse), Benjamin Leigh-Smith (Capt./owner Eira), Arthur Conan Doyle (Surgeon Hope), John Gray (Capt. Hope), Dr.Walker and Dr.Neale, and William Lofley (ice master Eira) right at the stern. Conan Doyle was then an undergraduate at Edingburgh University and his Arctic experiences on board the Hope lead to his taking up the pen as the spiritual father of Sherlock Holmes and publishing "The captain of the Polestar" in 1883.


On the 14th of June 1881 Ben again sails with the Eira and 25 crew, a cat, a canary and Bob the dog who was to prove invaluable to the expedition. His goal: the discovery of new territories North of those discovered in 1880, as well as a study of the deep sea currents and their influence and more specifically the Gulf Stream.