Maritime Studies

The title, and the reference to Captain George North, should point sufficiently cultured solvers towards the classic pirate adventure novel Treasure Island. Since the work is now public domain, the entire text is available through Project Gutenberg (and other places).

Using one of these sources, solvers might notice (as clued by the "unique passages" in the flavortext) that each of the feeder answers appears exactly once in the novel, in a chapter number matching one of the "days".

Solvers might also notice that the novel opens a map, consisting of a compass rose (with helpful compass lines extending from its center) and a scale indicating the length of a mile. If solvers measure the listed distances, starting from the center of the compass rose and heading in the indicated direction for the indicated length, the measurement lands on a number.

Using these numbers as indices for the answers associated with that specific chapter, the solvers spell the answer: ADMIRAL.