Stowaway

Running away from home is probably the dream of every young boy at some point in his life. But in 1866, 13-year-old David Cardno turned his dream into reality when he successfully stowed away – after two unsuccessful attempts in the previous two years – on a whaling ship bound from Peterhead, Scotland, to Cumberland Sound in the far-off Canadian Arctic.

On his second attempt, David had gotten as far as Lerwick in the Shetland Islands before being sent back with a dozen other young Peterhead boys, each given a lump of salt beef and some ship's biscuits to tide them over on their way home.

David's reason for going to the Arctic was simple. His father was in Cumberland Sound, managing a shore station for a whaling company, and the teenager wanted to join him.

So on June 14, 1866, he bade his mother good-bye and headed off to school – or so his mother thought. Instead he concealed himself aboard a ship, the Lord Saltoun, owned by his father's employer.

Undetected, he only made his presence known when well out to sea. Still, the captain would have sent him back from his first stop at Orkney but the owner happened to be aboard and intervened, hiring the adventurous rascal as "ship's boy."

The Lord Saltoun, under Captain Murray, reached Cumberland Sound after a stormy Atlantic passage. Her first stop was a small whaling station called Lucas Harbour where Murray expected to unite young Cardno with his father. But Cardno Senior was away and Murray surmised that he was across the sound at Kekerten.

Murray left David and a crewmember, Keith Milne, at Lucas Harbour and departed for that station.

The next morning, the teenager had his first meeting with Inuit. In his memoirs, he recounted the events this way:

"I was aroused very early, before daylight, by the noise of voices outside, all chattering together in a strange tongue. I jumped out of bed and was over at the window in an instant. Peering out into the gloom, I received the shock of my life, for within a few yards of the station what appeared to be a whole colony of people had settled down overnight. I could discern a cluster of huts, and all around squat, furred people, most of them moving about in a haphazard fashion, and all of them talking at once.

"'Do you think they'll kill us, Keith?' I whispered.

"'Na, na; they surely winna dae that,' he replied, much to my relief, for although I knew that the people were the Eskimos of whom I had heard so much, I was not very clear about their attitude to white people."

David and Keith prepared a soup of peas and barley, and served all their visitors, who numbered over a hundred men, women and children. They stayed a number of days and David Cardno made the first of many lasting friendships with them. He also used every spare moment in learning to handle a kayak, a skill at which he would become proficient.

Another week passed before the Lord Saltoun returned with David's father. David described the encounter as "a strange meeting in a strange part of the world." He wrote that "although my father was not entirely pleased at my exploit, I knew he was glad to see me… He did not reprove me much, and I felt I had been forgiven for running away."

The Lord Saltoun took no whales that season. Worse, the ice in the sound closed in early that fall and the ship had to winter in Niantilik Harbour, along with a number of other whaling ships. David Cardno's adventure turned into a year-long sojourn among the Inuit, the first of many in his long and adventurous life.

Next week – More from the life of David Cardno.

Taissumani recounts a specific event of historic interest. Kenn Harper is a historian, writer and linguist who lives in Iqaluit. Feedback? Send your comments and questions to kennharper@hotmail.com.