William Robinson (sailor)

William Albert Robinson (13 August 1902 – 16 January 1988)[1] was an American sailor and author of travel books who founded the Malardé Institute in French Polynesia. He is the father of French Polynesian dancer and choreographer Tumata Robinson.[2]

Robinson was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin.[1] He was an only child raised by his mother, Ella Huegin.[1] After graduating from polytechnic studies, he took a job in a textile factory in New York City.[3]^: vii

Between 1928 and 1931 he circumnavigated the world on the small yacht Svaap. Later, on the same ship, he sailed to the Galápagos Islands to shoot a nature film there, but suffered a perforated appendix on the spot. While recuperating, he lost his yacht to Ecuador. He settled in Tahiti in the Ofaipapa valley. He later moved to Ipswich, Massachusetts, where he ran a small shipyard building fishing vessels.[1][3]^{: viii, ix}

During this time, he acquired a brigantine, which he named after his wife Florence C. Robinson. He made voyages on this ship with a small crew between the islands of the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. During World War II, he built minesweepers, submarine chasers and landing craft at his shipyard.[3]^: ix

After the end of the war, he returned to Tahiti and on the yacht Varua,[4] which he built at his shipyard in Ipswich, sailed with a crew of several men to the South Pacific Ocean, calling at the Galapagos and Panama. When he returned to Tahiti, he found his friends there had contracted Elephantiasis. He assisted in founding a medical institution to fight the disease, which later became the Malardé Institute.[5][6] As a result, he was awarded the Legion of Honour by the French government.[2] He died in Tahiti in 1988.[1]