MacKenzie

Alexander “Sandy” MacKenzie (1882-1932)

Sandy MacKenzie. Image courtesy of Ian Macleod

Alexander “Sandy” MacKenzie (1882-1932)

Seafarer, Naval Officer, and Innovator

Alexander “Sandy” MacKenzie was a Scottish-born sea captain whose life spanned continents and whose work helped solve a practical problem faced by generations of sailors. From humble beginnings on the Isle of Lewis, he rose to command ships in wartime and developed a navigational tool that improved the accuracy of determining latitude at sea.

His story is one of resilience, skill, and quiet ingenuity.

Early Life on the Isle of Lewis

Alexander MacKenzie was born on 15 September 1882 in Shulishader, on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland. He was the third child of Murdo MacKenzie and Ann MacLeod, and the brother of Henrietta MacKenzie, the author’s grandmother.

He grew up in a community shaped by the sea. His father and grandfather were crofter-fishermen, and maritime life was both a livelihood and a tradition. But it was also a source of loss. His grandfather, Donald MacKenzie, was killed in a fishing accident in Broad Bay in 1859, along with his entire crew. The tragedy left a lasting mark on the family.

MacKenzie is believed to have attended Aird School in Point. Little is known about his early education, but family accounts describe a strict upbringing. His father was remembered as a disciplinarian, and this may have influenced Sandy’s decision to leave home while still young.

Sandy’s Birth Certificate

An old photo of Aird School, now demolished.

A Life at Sea Begins

Around the age of 17, MacKenzie likely left Lewis—possibly running away—and is thought to have pursued nautical training in Glasgow before going to sea.

By 1902, at the age of 20, he had arrived in the United States. Over the following years, he built a career in the Merchant Navy, working on long-distance routes at a time when global shipping was both demanding and dangerous.

Before the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914, ships travelling between the west and east coasts of the Americas had to navigate around Cape Horn. This route, often referred to as part of the “Clipper Route,” was known for its harsh conditions. MacKenzie is believed to have served on vessels operating along these routes, possibly transporting oil from California to the eastern seaboard.

These early experiences would have shaped his skills as a navigator and seaman.

San Francisco 1906

Family accounts place MacKenzie in San Francisco around the time of the devastating earthquake of 18 April 1906. The disaster destroyed much of the city and left thousands homeless.

According to oral tradition, he assisted in rescue efforts following the earthquake. While detailed records are limited, this episode reflects the realities of life at sea, where sailors often found themselves caught up in major historical events far from home.

By 1909, MacKenzie was in Seattle, where he applied for a Seaman’s Certificate, marking another step forward in his maritime career.

San Francisco Earthquake 18 April 1906

SS Los Angeles requisitioned into US Navy as USS Los Angeles 1917

War Service: World War I

When the United States entered the First World War in 1917, MacKenzie was already an experienced and capable seaman. On 8 August 1917, he was commissioned as a Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Naval Auxiliary Reserve.

He was given command of the USS Los Angeles, an oil tanker requisitioned for military service. His role was to transport fuel across the Atlantic to support Allied naval operations—a task that was essential, yet often overlooked.

These voyages were long and hazardous. Ships faced the constant threat of German submarines, as well as the challenges of navigating busy wartime shipping lanes and unpredictable weather.

Scapa Flow

In early 1918, MacKenzie sailed to Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands, a major base of the Royal Navy. This journey likely took him past the Isle of Lewis—his birthplace—which he had left years earlier and never returned to. It is a poignant detail in a life defined by distance and movement.

Over the course of the war, he commanded multiple transatlantic voyages, delivering fuel to key ports in Britain and France. These missions formed a vital part of the Allied war effort.

Scapa Flow, Orkney 1919

SS Vaterland 1913, renamed SS Leviathan in 1917

USS Hoven

After the war, the Los Angeles was decommissioned in January 1919. MacKenzie went on to command another vessel, the USS Hoven, continuing his service in large-scale maritime operations.

Family accounts also suggest that he may have captained the SS Leviathan, at the time the largest ocean liner in the world, during its service as a troopship. While documentation is limited, the association reflects the level of responsibility he had attained.

An Innovator in Navigation

Alongside his career at sea, MacKenzie made a lasting contribution to navigation through his publication MacKenzie’s Ex-Meridian Altitude Tables.

Traditionally, sailors calculated latitude by measuring the sun’s height at exactly noon. While accurate, this method depended on clear visibility at a precise moment—conditions that were often disrupted by cloud cover.

MacKenzie’s tables provided a practical solution. They allowed navigators to take observations before or after noon and apply corrections to determine their latitude accurately. By removing the reliance on perfect timing, his method made navigation more flexible and dependable.

Although the underlying concept was known, MacKenzie’s work made it more accessible and easier to use in everyday conditions at sea. His tables reduced complexity and helped minimise errors, making them particularly valuable to working seamen.

His achievement reflects a combination of practical experience and technical understanding—an ability to turn theory into a useful tool.

MacKenzies Tables Front Cover

How the Tables Worked in Practice

MacKenzie’s tables were designed for real-world conditions, where perfect observations were often impossible.

A navigator would begin by measuring the sun’s height using a sextant, even if the observation was taken slightly before or after noon. On its own, this measurement would not give an accurate latitude.

The navigator would then consult MacKenzie’s tables to find a correction based on the time of the observation and the sun’s position. Applying this correction allowed them to determine what the sun’s height would have been at noon.

From this adjusted value, latitude could be calculated in the usual way.

In essence, the tables allowed sailors to work around poor timing or patchy visibility. Instead of relying on a single precise moment, they could take a usable reading and adjust it afterwards.

For many seamen, this turned a common difficulty into a manageable task.

Later Life and Personal Glimpses

By 1920, MacKenzie was living in New York, where he continued his maritime career. Records show that he held positions of responsibility and was associated with the United States Shipping Board.

Family recollections offer glimpses of his personal life. A relative who met him in New York in the early 1930s remembered him as formal and considerate. He reportedly took care to ensure that social outings, such as trips to the cinema, were appropriate for her strict presbyterian upbringing.

He was also said to own a yacht moored on the Hudson River, though this may have referred to one of the ships he commanded, SS West Madaket, which were sometimes docked there.

Despite his professional success, MacKenzie never married and had no children.

SS West Madaket

Alexander MacKenzie Death Certificate

Death and Legacy

Alexander MacKenzie died on 7 September 1932 at the age of 50, following a heart attack. He was living in Hampton, Virginia, and was buried in the Veterans Affairs National Cemetery there.

His life was one of movement—from the Isle of Lewis to the United States, and across the world’s oceans. He rose from modest beginnings to positions of significant responsibility, serving during a time of global conflict and contributing to the practice of navigation.

Today, his Ex-Meridian Altitude Tables stand as a reminder of an era when accurate navigation depended on skill, observation, and careful calculation. Though modern technology has replaced such methods, his work reflects the ingenuity and determination of the seafarers who came before.

Acknowledgement

This account has been enriched by information shared by Ian Alexander Macleod, a descendant of the MacKenzie family, whose contributions have added valuable detail and depth to the story.

Veterans Cemetery, Hampton, Virginia

Ancestor Chart

Murdo Mackenzie and Anne MacLeod

Alexander MacLeod, Donald MacKenzie, Fisherman, Henrietta MacKenzie, Isle of Lewis, Jessie MacDonald, Pilots Song, Scotland, Shulishader, The Pilot 0

Murdo MacKenzie and Anne MacLeod

Murdo ‘am Pilot’ MacKenzie

Murdo MacKenzie was born in Shulishader, Isle of Lewis, Scotland in about 1851. His father was Donald MacKenzie a fisherman, and his mother was Henrietta Mackenzie. Their story is told on a separate page.

Anne MacLeod

Anne MacLeod was born in Knock, Isle of Lewis, Scotland in about 1844. Her parents were Alexander MacLeod and Jessie MacDonald. Their story is told on a separate page.

Acknowledgement and Update

Since I first published this web page, I have been contacted by Ian Macleod, who chanced upon this website while searching for his, and indeed my, great grandfather Murdo MacKenzie. It turns out that Ian, who is my second cousin, has a lot more information than I did about the MacKenzie family. Much of this information came from his father, Dr John Macleod, who was the Pilot’s grandson.

I am grateful for all this additional information, and also for his permission to publish it on this web page. I have updated this page to include the additional information. August 2023.

Anne MacLeod

Anne MacLeod photographed in Stornoway in the early part of the twentieth century.

Murdo Mackenzie ‘am Pilot’ (The Pilot)

Murdo MacKenzie and his brother William were both noted for composing poems and songs. His brother William was known as “The Bard” and he emigrated to Canada.

Murdo was deeply religious and most of his poetry was about the Church. It was said that “he ruled his family with a rod of iron.”

In the photo opposite the Pilot is holding his great granddaughter Annette Young (nee MacLeod), who was my first cousin.

Murdo MacKenzie ‘am Pilot’. Image courtesy of Anne Young

Translation into English courtesy of ‘An Iodhlann’ – Tiree’s Historical Centre

Pilot’s Song

Many thanks to Ian MacLeod, and his father, for providing the explanation as to how Murdo became known as ‘am Pilot’.

Apparently, Murdo MacKenzie had a fishing accident where a fishing hook became embedded in his eye and he lost his eye as a result. After the accident he became known as ‘Pilot’ or ‘The Pilot’ after an old Gaelic song about a one-eyed dog called Pilot.

I have shown the words to the song in English opposite. The poem is reproduced with the kind permission of ‘An Iodhlann’ – Tiree’s Historical Centre. aniodhlann.org.uk

A recording of the song in Gaelic can be found here. It is sung most beautifully by Karen Matheson. Please be aware that this link will open a YouTube page in a new window where this music is located. If you do not have a subscription to YouTube Premium, you may have to endure a short advert, before the music starts to play.

Chuir iad an t-sùil à Pilot bàn,

Chuir iad an t-sùil à Pilot;

Chuir iad an t-sùil à Pilot bochd,

‘S gun fhios ciod an lochd a rinn e.

Dìol mo chuid mulan aig mucan a’ chùbair,

Chuir iad ‘n .an smùid an raoir iad

‘S beag a bha fhios a’m gu’n robh iad ‘s an dùthaich

Fhad ‘s a bha ‘n t-sùil am Pilot.

Ghleidheadh e dhomhsa ‘n gàradh-càil,

Gu là bho’n chromadh an duibhire

Policeman riamh cha robh aig na Goill

Cho math ris air faireadh na h-oidhche.

Ged thèìd mi do m’ leaba cha’n fhaigh mi loc cadail,

Le balaich a’ bhaile ‘s an oidhche;

Ach dh’fhaodadh na suirichean fuireach aig baile,

Mur dalladh a’ chaile mo Philot.

Saoil sibh fhèine nach bu neo-bhanail,

Am buill thug a’ chaile le foill dha

Gur mairg gill’ òg ‘g an leannan a’ bhèisd,

Bho’n chuir i bho fheum mo Philot.

Chuir mi petition a dh’ionnsaidh na ban-righ’nn,

a dh’ innseadh mar thachair do m’Pilot.

Thuirt i gu’n cuireadh i gini ‘am dhorn

a chuireadh suil oir ‘am Pilot.

Birthplace of Anne MacLeod

Anne was born in Knock, near the causeway at Aignish, Isle of Lewis, Scotland.

Knock, from the Gaelic, An Cnoc (a small hill), is a village in Point peninsula on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. Point (an Rubha in Gaelic) is connected by road across a narrow isthmus (barely 100 metres wide) to Stornoway, the main administrative centre of the Western Isles.

The village of Knock consists of between fifty and one hundred houses and is bordered to the south with Swordale and to the north with Aignish.

Aerial View – Village of Knock. Image © Google Earth.

9 Shulishader, Point. Image © Google Streetview.

Anecdotes

Murdo MacKenzie was born at 9 Shulishader, Point and lived there for much of his life. I am not sure if I have found the correct croft, but this one is next door to 11 Shulishader, and marked as No 9 on Google Maps. It looks like it has what estate agents would describe as, “scope for improvement”.

Ian MacLeod recalls that his father told him the story of when his father was young, they were all sitting round the dinner table about to have a meal. Whilst the Pilot was saying grace, one of his father’s cousins or brother pretended to flick some food off his spoon at the Pilot. Dad copied this but unfortunately he hit the Pilot on the face with the food off his spoon.

He recalls, “My father managed to escape out the house before physical retribution was applied. He spent the night hiding up the hillock behind the croft.” The next morning his mother came out to him with a suitcase with his clothes. She said to him “Don’t worry John, there is a place in heaven for you” to which he replied “I need a piece of it now” and he made it by bus down to Crossbost to stay with Aunt Bella where he stayed for the rest of the summer. I am not sure if he went part of the time to the Macleod family croft in Aignish or not.

Family Anecdotes

Apparently at that time when a boat returned from fishing, the women would wade out and carry the fishermen ashore on their shoulders so that their clothes would not get wet.They would then have a whisky when they got back to the house.

On another occasion Dr John and his brother Donald decided to wash themselves with water from the water barrel outside the croft house on a Saturday night .The water was for drinking etc on the sabbath and the well was some distance from the house. Both brothers received the appropriate retribution.

When the Pilot got a radio, he would take his hat off when the news was read, and when electricity was installed into the Pilot’s house, he issued an edict that only he could switch the lights on or off.

Map of Shulishader 1840-1880. Image courtesy of National Library of Scotland.

View of Knock Today. Image © Google Streetview.

Knock Today

A view of Knock today, looking towards Stornoway.

Knock used to have a primary school and post office. The post office closed in 2008 along with many other post offices in the north west of Scotland.

Knock Primary school opened on 29 October 1878 and closed for the last time on 30 June 2011 when the pupils were moved to a new school in Bayble. The old school is now a locally run shop and café “Buth an Rubha & Cafe Roo” selling a wide range of everyday essentials and local produce. It opened on 7 March 2014.

There is another village called Knock, in the district of Carloway, in the Uig Parish of Lewis.

Shulishader

Shulishader (Scottish Gaelic: Siadar an Rubha) is a small village with a population of around 120 people in Point, Outer Hebrides on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland. Located on the north-western side of the Eye Peninsula, it overlooks Broad Bay. Most of the village is over 60m above sea level, affording excellent views across the bay and northern Lewis, though the land falls gently towards the sea before ending in small cliffs. There are several small, difficult to access, sandy beaches, and a small cove on the coastline. The cove is accessible via 88 dilapidated steps, and contains a pebble peach, some natural caves and a concrete structure once used for boat moorings above the high tide line.

The village is surrounded by common grazing land and moorland which is worked to provide peat as fuel, but this is a declining activity. Vodafone erected a mobile phone mast on the moor, a short distance east of the centre of the village.

Aerial View of Shulishader. Image © Google Earth.

Shulishader Today – Looking across Broad Bay towards Gress. Image © Google Streetview.

Shulishader Today

The village is essentially a dormitory village, and there are no amenities within the village, not even a church, which is unusual for a Lewis village. An hourly bus service passes through from Portnaguran to Stornoway and in the opposite direction, though services are less frequent in the evening.

Marriage Certificate

Murdo MacKenzie married Anne MacLeod on 13 December 1877 in the Free Church in Garrabost (see below). Murdo MacKenzie records his occupation as a fisherman.

Anne MacLeod signed the Register with a “mark”. She was a domestic servant and both Murdo and Anne’s fathers were also fisherman.

Marriage – Murdo MacKenzie 13 December 1877

Garrabost – Free Church. Image © Google Streetview.

Free Church in Garrabost

This rather austere building was the Free Church in Garrabost which is situated between Shulieshader and Knock.

Ancestor Chart

John Thomson and Henrietta MacKenzie

Alexander Thomson, Ann MacLeod, Crofting, HMS Isonzo, Isle of Lewis, Janet Ferguson, Murdo MacKenzie, Scotland, Tong 0

John Thomson and Henrietta MacKenzie

John Thomson

John Thomson was born at 32 Aird Tong, Isle of Lewis, Scotland on 6 September 1879. His parents were Alexander Thomson and Janet “Jessie” Ferguson. Their story is told on a separate page.

Henrietta “Effie” MacKenzie

Henrietta “Effie” MacKenzie was born at Shulishader, Isle of Lewis, Scotland on 18 January 1881. Her parents were Murdo MacKenzie and Anne MacLeod, Their story is told on a separate page.

John Thomson and Henrietta “Effie” MacKenzie on their wedding 12 March 1908

Wedding Photo

I thought I would start off with a photo of the happy couple on their wedding day. Their marriage certificate shows that they were married on 12 March 1908 in Garrabost according to the customs of the Established Church of Scotland. It would seem that the MacKenzies worshipped at the Church of Scotland.

The Church of Scotland was founded in the Reformation when John Knox split from the Catholic Church. They espoused the theology of Calvinism. This is not to be confused with the Free Church of Scotland.

The Free Church was and still is sometimes colloquially known by the term “The Wee Frees”, even though, in 21st century Scotland, it is the largest Presbyterian denomination after the national church. Since this term was originally used in comparing the Free Church with the United Free Church (which is now a much smaller denomination), the Free Church of Scotland now deprecates the use of the term.

The Thomsons of Tong were members of the Free Church. In Garrabost there was both a Free Church and a Church of Scotland.

John Thomson

The illustration opposite shows the Birth Certificate of John Thomson at 32 Aird Tong, the family home. His father Alexander Thomson records his occupation as “fisherman”, but on John’s marriage certificate he records his occupation as “crofter”.

He was, of course, both a crofter and a fisherman, as the crofting way of life was a subsistence way of life which ideally required another source of income to support the family. As John was one of 14 children an additional source of income was almost a necessity.

John Thomson Birth Certificate 6 September 1879

Henrietta with her children fom left to right, Donald, Etta, Ivor & Jessie Ann

Family Photograph

The photograph opposite is a photograph of Henrietta “Effie” MacKenzie taken about 1920. There was a fifth child called Johanna, who died in infancy in 1916.

Henrietta “Effie” MacKenzie

My aunt told me the story of the day that they got the news about her father. A telegraph boy had been spotted cycling round Broad Bay, which meant only one thing; bad news for someone. Everybody would emerge from their croft and stand by their gate, hoping he would cycle on to Gress or Tolsta, but on this occasion he cycled into Tong and down to 32 Aird Tong to hand my grandmother the telegram to say that her husband had been lost at sea. My aunt said she was hysterical and inconsolable. My aunt was nine years old at the time.

Henrietta “Effie” Mackenzie – Birth Certificate 18 Jan 1881

John Thomson – Service Record

John Thomson had been killed in the Mediterranean during the First World War, and, as a result, the family were evicted from the croft at 32 Aird Tong, which had been the family home for three generations. Effie lost her youngest child in 1916, then lost her husband in 1917, and was then evicted from their home. Effie moved to Stornoway to find work as a fishworker on the quayside. The children were split up and went to stay with various MacKenzie relatives on Point.

Eventually Effie managed to get a flat in Keith Street and was able to get her children back into a single family unit. Judging by the age of the children, I’m guessing that this photograph was taken about 1920, and was presumably to celebrate the reunification of her family.

The MacKenzie Family

The photograph opposite shows the MacKenzie Family. Standing at the back is Henrietta “Effie” MacKenzie, my grandmother, with her arm on her mother’s shoulder. Her mother was Anne MacLeod.

On the chair is Isabella, who married Roderick MacKenzie a widower. It was said that Isabella’s father Murdo did not approve of the marriage as he hoped that she would look after him in his old age. He then moved in with Effie, who by this time was widowed.

Sitting, Jessie, the youngest, who was engaged to James Thomson. Two brothers engaged to two sisters, but he jilted her and she eventually married a policeman called Donald MacLeod of Aignish and had a family Norman (bank manager), Donnie (minister), Alastair (teacher) and John (doctor). They lived in Glasgow.

Henrietta “Effie” MacKenzie with her mother Anne MacLeod.

Early photo of John Thomson

John Thomson

A photo of John Thomson, my grandfather, in his early years. One feature, which he appears to have passed on to his son, Donald, and also to me is the receding hairline. It provides a useful yardstick for dating photographs. In this photograph he has a very respectable hairline, but later photographs his receding hairline is more pronounced. I would guess that this photograph was taken about 1900.

As a sea faring fisherman, John Thomson would have been able to supplement his income by joining the Royal Naval Reserve (RNR). The Royal Naval Reserve is a part-time force of civilians, who provide the Royal Navy with the additional trained personnel it needs at times of tension, humanitarian crisis, or conflict.

As a consequence of his membership of the RNR, John Thomson was called up at the outbreak of hostilities in 1914, at the beginning of the First World War. He served aboard HMS Isonzo. The Isonzo, originally called the Isis, was a steamship of about 1,700 tons. She was originally built for P&O to reduce the time for mail and passengers between Brindisi in Italy and Port Said in Egypt. She was requisitioned by the Royal Navy and renamed HMS Isonzo in 1916.

She was used as a supply ship by the Navy, running a shuttle between Malta and Taranto in Italy where a British Battlegroup centred around the battleships, HMS Queen and HMS Prince of Wales was based. The Navy of the Austrian Hungarian Empire was docked in Trieste, and the British were seeking to blockade the entrance to the Adriatic Sea near Taranto, to prevent the Austro-Hungarian Navy entering the Mediterranean and joining the hostilities.

HMS Isonzo

A watercolour sketch of the Isonzo moored off the Castillo Grande Signal Station in Malta. Malta was used as a staging post for supplies and personnel for keeping the Battlegroup in Taranto fully supplied.

HMS Isonzo off the Castille Grande Signal Station Malta. NB Isonzo is the grey naval vessel in the centre not the sailing ship

HMS Isonzo at Malta 1916

February 1917

In January 1917, the Ships Log shows that the Isonzo was in dry dock having extensive repairs involving the removal of one of the steam boilers. The Ships Log for February 1917 is missing from the Public Record Office, but I was able to piece together her movements from the Ships Logs of other vessels that moored alongside her in Malta and Taranto.

This story is based on witness statements of another seaman from Lewis who was aboard Isonzo at the time. It seems that she left Malta bound for Taranto on 21 February. An incident ocurred on the trip, which apparently required the ship to seek shelter in a bay and send down a diver, who was supported by my grandfather. The diver got into difficulties and was rescued by my grandfather, but who was lost at sea in the process.

The Isonzo docked the following morning in Taranto and an inquiry was held on board one of the warships, but I have never managed to get a copy of the Inquiry Report at the National Archives.

Gibraltar

After the war the Isonzo was laid up in Gibraltar and sold to Italian Ship breakers in 1923.

HMS Isonzo

John Thomson RNR

Dating this photograph, from his hairline and also his uniform, I would guess that it was taken not long before his death in 1917.

I was proud to note that he wore the same splayed moustach as Thomson, one of the pair of detectives in the Tintin books. See the Home Page if you need an explanation.

Marriage Certificate

The illustration opposite is a copy of an entry in the Marriage Register of the Church of Scotland in Garrabost, referred to in the first paragraph of this page.

Scottish National War Memorial – Edinburgh Castle

Remembered with Honour

The Scottish National War Memorial, located inside Edinburgh Castle maintains a record of all service personnel from Scotland who lost their lives during the war.

The Certificate opposite recognises John Thomson’s entry in the Register.

Chatham Naval Memorial

John Thomson RNR is also included on the Chatham Naval Memorial.

Commemorated in perpetuity by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Chatham Naval Memorial – Leading Seaman John Thomson RNR

Gress Cemetery

Although his body was never recovered a Memorial Stone was erected in Gress Cemetery. The transcription reads

“Erected by his sorrowing widow Henrietta Thomson, in Sacred and Loving Memory of her dear husband John Thomson, who was drowned while on active service in the Mediterranean Sea. 18 February 1917”.

In fact the date is incorrect as he died on the 22 February.

Fishworkers

On her marriage certificate, Effie records her occupation as a fish worker. After her husband died, Effie returned to Stornoway and got work as a fishergirl on the quayside and was able to reunite her family.

Effie MacKenzie asked to be buried in the cemetery in Aignish, as she did not wish to share her final resting place with the man who had evicted the family from their croft at 32 Aird Tong. He, whoever he was, and I believe that he might have been a Thomson relative, had been buried in the cemetery in Gress.

Herring gutters Stornoway Isle of Lewis

Ancestor Chart

Donald MacKenzie and Henrietta MacKenzie

Broad Bay, Fisherman, Fishing Accident, Isle of Lewis, Knock, Point, Scotland, Sheshader, Shulishader 5

Donald MacKenzie and Henrietta MacKenzie

Donald MacKenzie

Donald MacKenzie was born in Knock, Isle of Lewis, Scotland about 1815. His father was Kenneth MacKenzie, a crofter from 9 Knock. His mother was Christian “Kirsty” MacLeod. Donald was one of twelve children.

Henrietta MacKenzia

Henrietta MacKenzie was born in Sheshader, Isle of Lewis, Scotland in about 1819.

View of Knock looking towards Stornoway. Image © Google Streetview.

Donald MacKenzie

Donald was born in Knock in about 1815.

Knock is located at the western end of Point close to the isthmus that links to the main part of Lewis.

Henrietta MacKenzie

Henrietta Mackenzie was born in Sheshader in about 1819.

In about 1840 she was married to Donald Mackenzie. The lived in 9 Shulishader and raised seven children.

Sheshader Today. Image © Google Streetview.

Broad Bay Stornoway. Image © Google Earth.

Donald Mackenzie

Donald was a fisherman sadly lost his life in a fishing accident in Broad Bay on 2 February 1859. No bodies were recovered.

Ancestor Chart

MacKenzie

Recent Posts

Alexander “Sandy” MacKenzie (1882-1932)

Alexander “Sandy” MacKenzie (1882-1932)

Seafarer, Naval Officer, and Innovator

Early Life on the Isle of Lewis

A Life at Sea Begins

San Francisco 1906

War Service: World War I

Scapa Flow

USS Hoven

An Innovator in Navigation

How the Tables Worked in Practice

Later Life and Personal Glimpses

Death and Legacy

Acknowledgement

Murdo MacKenzie and Anne MacLeod

Murdo ‘am Pilot’ MacKenzie

Anne MacLeod

Acknowledgement and Update

Anne MacLeod

Murdo Mackenzie ‘am Pilot’ (The Pilot)

Pilot’s Song

Birthplace of Anne MacLeod

Anecdotes

Family Anecdotes

Knock Today

Shulishader

Shulishader Today

Marriage Certificate

Free Church in Garrabost

John Thomson and Henrietta MacKenzie

John Thomson

Henrietta “Effie” MacKenzie

Wedding Photo

John Thomson

Family Photograph

Henrietta “Effie” MacKenzie

John Thomson – Service Record

The MacKenzie Family

John Thomson

HMS Isonzo

February 1917

Gibraltar

John Thomson RNR

John Thomson RNR

Marriage Certificate

Remembered with Honour

Chatham Naval Memorial

Gress Cemetery

Fishworkers

Donald MacKenzie and Henrietta MacKenzie

Donald MacKenzie

Henrietta MacKenzia

Donald MacKenzie

Henrietta MacKenzie

Donald Mackenzie