Any thoughts on whether Jack London may have gotten his inspiration for The Sea Wolf (1904) from Doyle's Sherlock Holmes story, "The Adventure of Black Peter" (1902 - 1903)? I see a number of key parallels:
- Both title characters are sea captains
- ... of seal-hunting ships
- both are ruthless,
- prone to fits of violent rage
- Both rescue a desperate "land-lubber" in a storm and take advantage of them for their own profit