| Administrative History | David Hawthorn Cardno, the son of a whaler, was born in 1853 at 24 Castle Street, Keith Insch, Peterhead. By his early teens he was already a seasoned traveller to the Arctic and over time he became a noted harpooner. In 1910 he was appointed manager of the Kekerten whaling station in the Cumberland Sound, Baffin Island, a site established by an earlier whaler from Peterhead, William Penny. Cardno established close relations with the Inuit community and it was at this time that he started writing his memoirs. It was not until 1916 that he learned of the First World War and the following year he returned to Scotland from the Arctic. His memoirs were completed in 1930 and he died in Aberdeen in 1938. |
| Custodial History | The collection was initially loaned in the 1970s by William and Ann Cruden, Aberdeen, to Dr W. Gillies Ross at the Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, where microfilm copies were made. In 1981 the collection was deposited at the University of Aberdeen. Three watercolour sketches of ships were retained by the family. |
| Description | Collection of seven volumes of memoirs, one volume about inuit life and another volume with pasted-in photographs and newspaper cuttings describing David Cardno's artic experiences. Journals start with a re-telling of events from 1866 describing the author's first trip to the Artic as a stow away aboard the Lord Saltoun. He sailed on many of the noted whaling ships to the Cumberland Sound, Greenland and Iceland, including the Lord Saltoun (Captain Murray and Adams), the Xanthus (Captain James Davidson), the Esquimau (Captain Yule), Jan Mayen, Active (Captain Salmon), Star (Captain Salmon), Polar Star (Captain Salmond), Eric (Captain Alex Gray), Windward (Captains Murray and David Gray) and the Active and Balaena (Captain Robertson of Dundee). While manager at Kekerten whaling station in Cumberland Sound, Baffin Island, he wrote these memoirs, completing them in 1930. |