Frederick W. Hyndman was born on 4 September 1841 at Princetown, Prince Edward Island, the fifth son of Robert Hyndman and Anne (McNutt). At the age of fifteen he joined the Admiralty Survey of the Gulf and River of St. Lawrence as assistant to Captain John Orlebar. In May of 1858 he was accepted into the Royal Navy and was returned to the survey to serve on board the "Gulnare" and the "Margaretha Stevenson". He resigned his naval commission briefly in 1864 upon orders to leave the survey but was reinstated and appointed to HMS "Duncan" in which he travelled to the West Indies. After serving a time in Nelson's old ship the "Victory", he was appointed to surveying duties in the Mediterranean aboard HMS "Newport". While on this tour of duty he visited Jerusalem, Crete, Sicily, etc. and attended the formal opening of the Suez Canal. Having contacted malaria in 1869, he retired from the Navy due to ill health in 1870. Returning to Charlottetown he was appointed Marshall of the Vice-Amiralty Court, Secretary to the Board of Commissioners of the P.E.I. Railway (1871-1873), and Provincial Auditor (1876-1879). He also established an insurance business in 1872 which still operates successfully on the Island. From 1880 to 1887 he was also Vice Consul to the United States. In 1873 he married Eliza Nelson of Charlottetown and they had at least four children, Edith, Florence, Walter and John.