The town’s whaling history extended from the late 18th century and lasted for just over 100 years; by the mid 1850’s the active whaling fleet included more than 30 Peterhead vessels spending much of their time in the northern seas off Greenland and Canada.

Dominant names for the whaling and sealing period include:
John Hutchison, James Arbuthnot, Alexander Geary,
William Volum, John Suttar, George Sangster,
William Penny, James Hogg, George Martin,
Robert Birnie, J.W Murray, Andrew Catto,
Benjamin Buchan William Cardno
to name but a few.

Perhaps the most famous whaling family of this time were the Gray family and in particular John, Alexander and David Gray.

It was on David Gray’s boat in 1880 that the famous author, Arthur Conan Doyle, made a trip as the ship’s surgeon.

It was Captain Penny who commanded a search in 1850 for Franklin’s vessels the Erebus and the Terror whilst Franklin was searching for the North West Passage. Captain Penny also rediscovered the entrance to the Cumberland Sound (Baffin Island) that had been lost for more than 200 years.

Meanwhile Peterhead’s Captain Brown rescued Nansen from his fated trans-polar expedition.

Below, is a summary of the Gray Family Descendents starting with Captain David Gray.

1. Captain DAVID GRAY, born 1775 in South Shields, and died 1833 in Peterhead.
He married LILIAS COWAN.
She was born 1773 in South Shields, and died 1844 in Peterhead.
Children of DAVID GRAY and LILIAS COWAN are:
i. MARGARET GRAY, b. 1802, South Shields.
ii.JOHN GRAY, b. 1806, South Shields; d. 1856, Davis Straits. (See 2 below)
iii. DAVID GRAY, b. 1808, South Shields; d. 1829, Davis Straits. (See 3 below)
iv. GEORGE ARBUTHNOT GRAY, b. 1810, Peterhead; d. 1833, Hamburg Docks.
v. ROBERT HUTCHISON GRAY, b. 1811, Peterhead; d. 1827, Davis Straits.
vi. ELIZA GRAY, b. 1816, Peterhead; d. 1825, Peterhead.

Generation No. 2
2. Captain JOHN GRAY, born 1806 in South Shields, and died 1856 in Davis Straits.
He married BARBARA GEARY, daughter of ALEX GEARY and ANN SANGSTER.
She was born 1803 in Peterhead, and died 1882 in Peterhead.
Children of JOHN GRAY and BARBARA GEARY are:
i. DAVID3 GRAY, b. 1828, Peterhead; d. 1896, Peterhead.
ii. JOHN GRAY, b. 1830, Peterhead; d. 1892, Peterhead. (See 4 below)
iii. ANN GRAY, b. 1832, Kirkaldy, Fife.
iv. ELIZA GRAY, b. 1835, Peterhead; m. PETER CHRISTIE.
v. GEORGINA GRAY, b. 1837, Peterhead; m. WILLIAM GRAY.
vi. ALEXANDER GRAY, b. 1839, Peterhead; d. 1910, Sutton Surrey. (See 5 below)

Generation No. 3
3. Captain DAVID GRAY, born 1828 in Peterhead, and died 1896 in Peterhead.
He married ISABELLA GAMACK LAW 1851 in Peterhead, daughter of GEORGE LAW and ISABELLA MILNE.
She was born 1829 in Peterhead, and died 1858 in Peterhead.
He then married AMELIA WALKER 1863 in Peterhead, daughter of ROBERT WALKER and VIOLET SUTTER.
She was born 1841, and died 1937 in East Peterculter.
Children of Captain DAVID GRAY and ISABELLA LAW are:
i. ISABELLA4 GRAY, b. 1853, Peterhead; d. 1914, Peterhead; m. JAMES BRUCE; b. 1854; d. 1916.
ii. BARBARA GEARIE GRAY, b. 1855, Peterhead; m. RICHARD BADENACH CRABB, 1881, Peterhead.
iii. JOHN GRAY, b. 1856, Peterhead.
iv. DAVID GRAY, b. 1858, Peterhead; d. 1858, Peterhead.

Children of Captain DAVID GRAY and AMELIA WALKER are:
v. ROBERT WALKER GRAY, b. 1864, Peterhead.
vi. WILLIAM LUMSDEN GRAY, b. 1864, Peterhead; d. 1910.
vii. MARGARET GRAY, b. 1866, Peterhead; d. 1866, Peterhead.
viii. MAGNUS GRAY, b. 1867, Peterhead; d. 1887, USA.
ix. VIOLET GRAY, b. 1869, Peterhead; d. 1869, Peterhead.
x. ALICE GRAY, b. 1870, Peterhead.
xi. LILIAS GRAY, b. 1872, Peterhead; m. ARTHUR BRISTOW; b. 1868; d. 1917.
xii. VIOLET GRAY, b. 1874, Peterhead; d. 1960; m. ANDREW VOLUM, 1911.
xiii. JANE GRAY, b. 1876, Peterhead; d. 1962, St Albans; m. STANLEY THORBURN, 1920, Columbo.
xiv. DORIS GRAY, b. 1878, Peterhead; d. 1971; m. FREDERICK WERNHAM.
xv. DAVID GRAY, b. 1879, Peterhead; d. 1954, USA; m. JANET RENNIE, 1910.
xvi. FRANCIS AMELIA GRAY, b. 1880, Peterhead.
xvii. JAMES GRAY, b. 1882, Peterhead; d. 1953, Edinburgh; m. ADA RITSON, 1912.
xviii. MARGARET GRAY, b. 1884, Peterhead; d. 1889, Peterhead.

4. Captain JOHN GRAY, born 1830 in Peterhead, and died 1892 in Peterhead.
He married EMILY LINDSAY.
She was born 1841 in Montrose, and died 1926 in Peterhead.
Children of JOHN GRAY and EMILY LINDSAY are:
i. EMILY LINDSAY GRAY, b. 1868, Peterhead.
ii. EDITH GRAY, b. 1870, Peterhead.
iii. ANNIE LOUISA GRAY, b. 1872, Peterhead.
iv. EDWARD SEYMOUR GRAY, b. 1873, Peterhead; d. 1925, Transvaal.
v. HELEN ELLIOT GRAY, b. 1875, Peterhead.
vi. JOHN HOPE GRAY, b. 1877, Peterhead; d. 1911, Rhodesia.
vii. ALEAXANDER GEARY GRAY, b. 1879, Peterhead; d. 1916, Natal.
viii. IDA ROSE GRAY, b. 1882, Peterhead; d. 1884, Peterhead.

5. Captain ALEXANDER GRAY, born 1839 in Peterhead, and died 1910 in Sutton Surrey. He married EUPHEMIA JANET COMRIE 1880 in Peterhead, daughter of JOHN COMRIE and HELEN.
She was born 1856.
Children of ALEXANDER GRAY and EUPHEMIA COMRIE are:
i. ETHEL BARBARA4 GRAY, b. 1882, Peterhead.
ii. DOROTHY GRAY, b. 1883, Peterhead.
iii. EUPHEMIA GRAY, b. 1885, Peterhead.
iv. COLIN JOHN GRAY, b. 1886, Peterhead.
v. WILLIAM GRAY, b. 1888, Peterhead; d. 1888, Peterhead.

The nineteenth century artist and writer David Cardno was born in 1853 in Peterhead, he went on to spend much of his life over on Baffin Island (now part of the Canadian Territory of Nunavut) managing various whaling stations. One of these stations, Kekerten, is now the location of a Canadian Historic Territorial Park. The site now contains just the foundations of the three 19c houses built and used by people such as Penny and Cardno plus a few whaling relics (tourists may actually find it difficult to get there though and access is limited by the extreme weather being as it is, right on the Artic Circle). (Check it out at: www.nunavutparks.com/on_the_land/kekerten_park.cfm)

Another whaling captain, Captain John Watson (1834-1912) in 1864 emigrated to New Zealand together with his wife Elizabeth (sister of William Leask, Provost of Peterhead) thus demonstrating the further spread of the Peterhead connection.

The website; www.nefa.net/archive/sailwhale.htm provides considerable detailed background on the working lives of most of these famous Peterhead men.