There, in September 1787, he was enrolled as third mate on the Columbia Rediviva, a Boston vessel trading fur in the Pacific Northwest, under command of John Kendrick.

With the outbreak of the Quasi-War with France, in 1799 he became a Lieutenant in the United States Navy, on the frigate Boston, his brother John Montresor Haswell serving as midshipman.

Widow Mary joined sister-in-law Susanna (Haswell) Rowson in the operation of her school for girls in Newton, eventually remarrying merchant John Lemist.

The family eventually placed a stone memorializing Robert, his brother John Montresor Haswell, and sister Susanna Rowson, in the Forest Hills Cemetery in Boston's Jamaica Plain neighborhood.

These provide a detailed record of contacts with various native peoples and other European traders, and prove an invaluable source for the history and anthropology of the region.

The first of these logs was widely known even among his contemporaries, John Quincy Adams writing in 1790, immediately on the Columbia's return, "One of the passengers it is said has kept a very accurate journal of the voyage .

", and David Humphreys, United States Minister to Portugal, writing in 1791, "I have been informed by a young gentleman from Boston that a very intelligent and accurate journal was kept by one of the officers on the Washington."