British sailor. He was a midshipman on board the Swallow in July 1767 when he was the first to sight the island now named after him. In 1789, Pitcairn I was to become the refuge of the Bounty mutineers.
Robert Pitcairn (born 1836) was a Scottish-American railroad executive who headed the Pittsburgh Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad in the late 19th century.
Pitcairn was born in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, Scotland. When Carnegie left to work for the Pennsylvania Railroad, he got Pitcairn a job as a ticket agent. When Andrew Carnegie left the railroad to start Carnegie Steel, Pitcairn replaced Carnegie as head of the Pennsy's Pittsburgh operations.
Pitcairn ordered construction of a rail yard along Turtle Creek near Pittsburgh that would become the largest rail yard in the world. The borough of Pitcairn, Pennsylvania, located adjacent to the yard, was named in his honor.
Pitcairn became somewhat infamous as a member of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club.
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