In the spring of 1880, 21-year-old medical student Arthur Conan Doyle received an unexpected offer - to go on a six-month polar voyage on a whaling vessel, which, according to the great writer, became a "strange and delightful" chapter of his biography. The choice between preparing for another exam and a polar adventure was short-lived. From the Arctic, the future great writer brought a notebook with records and hand-made drawings, which formed the basis of this book. In addition to Arctic diaries, the book includes articles by Conan Doyle about swimming. written by him for British and American magazines , and works of art, based on the author's polar experience, the mystical novel “Captain “Polar Star”” and the story of Sherlock Holmes “The Adventures of Black Peter” Conan Doyle's diaries are published in Russian for the first time.