 As a youth, McKee rented Robert out as a laborer, with McKee receiving the pay. Robert was fond of the sea, and so started taking work at the Charleston docks, first as a stevedore unloading ships and working the docks, and then on boats as a sailor or sailmaker or fisherman. Eventually, he came to know the waters of the Carolina coast well, and was a skilled boat pilot, even though slaves were not given that title.