The Weather Roll

Robinson was born in St Anthony, Cornwall, the son of an officer in the Royal Navy. He went to Christ’s Hospital School and to the Royal Academy Schools. He made two long voyages, firstly on his father’s ship H.M.S. Wye, to the West Coast of Africa and Ascension Island, and then round the world in the four-masted barque Carradale. He spent 4 years at sea as a lieutenant in the R.N.V.R. during the First World War and won the DSC for operations against German submarines. Following the war he settled in Southampton and finally at the Quay House in Hamble. Much of his work displays his interest in sailing and shipping and as a marine historian he wrote and illustrated several books including Ships that have made History in 1936. His son Michael became the National Maritime Museum’s first Head of Pictures and a world authority on the Van de Velde.