 Austin drowned in 1887 while rowing along the coast to La Poile Bay to reach the newly erected light tower on Ireland Island.One of his 5 children, Robert J. Oke (b.1863), was an engineer on board the S.S. Erik, a wood steam whaler that was torpedoed on 25 August 1918 by the German submarine , and sunk 70 miles off Gallantry Head, St. Pierre (NL); all crew survived.