Captain Robert McDonald

Island story

Captain Robert McDonald was born on Pictou Island in 1838 and made the sea central to his working life. His Pioneer Cemetery monument records that he served six years as an officer aboard the missionary ship Dayspring and later drowned off Pictou Island while employed by William McLure, who erected the stone in memory of a faithful employee. Family correspondence preserved by PIHS adds a more personal layer: a 1894 letter says Robert’s remains were recovered, brought home and buried with his father. Near-contemporary family correspondence strongly supports 1892 as the year of his drowning. A letter dated 22 February 1894 records that he was last seen on 1 September 1892. The cemetery transcription gives the conflicting year 1893; the exact date of death and body recovery remains uncertain. The memorial is at R9-009 / NovaStory 3456. His marriage to Agnes Janet McIntosh is recorded at Sydney, New South Wales, on 5 January 1867. Their children’s original registrations give Agnes Catherine’s birth on 10 June 1868 and William McIntosh’s on 30 January 1873, both at Pictou. The first names their mother Agnes Janet McIntosh; the second uses Agnes J. McIntosh. Both report the parents’ 1867 Sydney marriage. The registrations place the parents’ marriage in Sydney and the children’s births at Pictou; neither specifies Pictou Island as the child’s birthplace.