Charles Gepp Robinson

Title of Admiralty Chart No 677, one of the surveys Robinson worked on with Owen

Charles Gepp Robinson (3 December 1805 – 31 October 1875) was a Royal Navy Officer and hydrographic surveyor particularly noted for his survey work in the west of Scotland.

Robinson was born at Appledore House in Devon. He joined the Navy on 13 May 1819 on board HMS Hasty in the North Sea.[1][2][3] His first overseas posting was with William Fitzwilliam Owen in HMS Leven from 1821-1826, surveying the east coast of Africa. The survey cost the lives of more than half of the crew due to tropical diseases, and Robinson was one of the few officers to return alive to England.[2][4] He was promoted to Lieutenant in 1826, and returned to Africa with Owen in HMS Eden on a mission to establish a settlement at Fernando Po, which was believed to be healthier than other parts of West Africa. This turned out not to be true, and mortality due to fever was as high as on the previous trip, but again Robinson was one of the few to survive, as did Owen and his family who accompanied him.[2][5]: 107–135  During his time in Africa, Robinson was active in pursuing slaving ships, capturing three of them.[2]

Admiralty Chart of part of the Clyde, surveyed in 1846
Monument to Charles Cayley and William Jewell on Great Cumbrae

From March 1829 to April 1835 he served in various ships as assistant to Henry Mangles Denham surveying the coasts of Wales and western England. He then took command of the Welsh survey after which he moved to Scotland. He was promoted to Commander in 1838, was for a short while in command of HMS Gleaner, then took command of the paddle steamer HMS Shearwater until she was transferred to famine relief work in Ireland in 1847.[6] Robinson's surveys of Scotland covered a large part of the west coast from the Solway Firth to Oban.[7] While surveying in the Clyde in 1844, two of Shearwater's midshipmen on a pleasure sail were drowned when a squall capsized their boat. A memorial was raised to them by Robinson and the officers of Shearwater at the north end of Great Cumbrae Island.[8] Robinson was promoted to post-captain in 1846, and continued in the surveying service until 1854. He was appointed to HMS Ceylon in the Mediterranean in 1854, and took part in cable-laying operations.[2] He was promoted to rear-admiral in 1864 and to vice-admiral in 1871.

A memorial in St. Michael's churchyard of Dumfries recorded the deaths of two young sons of Charles Gepp Robinson, with the inscription: "Rest, my beloved boys. You were called away ere this world's sin could tarnish your bright hue". No date is given, nor are the boys' names.[9] In 1860 Robinson was recorded as living in Oban. He had one surviving daughter, Julia Isabella.[10] He died on 31 October 1875 [3]

  1. ^ O'Byrne, William R. (1849). A naval biographical dictionary: comprising the life and services of every living officer in Her Majesty's navy, from the rank of admiral of the fleet to that of lieutenant, inclusive. London: John Murray. p. 991.
  2. ^ a b c d e Dawson, Llewellyn Styles (1885). Memoirs of hydrography, including brief biographies of the principal officers who have served in H.M. Naval Surveying Service between the years 1750 and 1885. Part 2. - 1830-1885. Eastbourne: Henry W. Keay. p. 70.
  3. ^ a b "Admiral Charles Gepp Robinson Obituary". Annual Register. 117: 149. 1875.
  4. ^ Morris, Roger (January 1996). "200 Years of Admiralty Charts and Surveys". The Mariner's Mirror. 82 (4): 420–435. doi:10.1080/00253359.1996.10656616. eISSN 2049-680X. ISSN 0025-3359.
  5. ^ Ritchie, George Stephen (1967). The Admiralty Chart: British Naval Hydrography in the Nineteenth Century. Hollis & Carter. OCLC 1082888087.
  6. ^ Rice, Tony (1986). British Oceanographic Vessels 1800-1950. London: The Ray Society. p. 135. ISBN 0-903874-19-9.
  7. ^ Robinson, Adrian Henry Wardle (1962). Marine Cartography in Britain: A History of the Sea Chart to 1855. With a Foreword by Sir John Edgell. Leicester University Press. pp. 198–199. OCLC 62431872.
  8. ^ Hugh MacDonald (1860). Days at the Coast:: A Series of Sketches Descriptive of the Frith [sic] of Clyde- Its Watering-places, Its Scenery, and Its Associations. John Cameron, Renfield Street. pp. 233–234. OCLC 1071025556.
  9. ^ M'Dowall, William (1876). Memorials of St. Michael's: The Old Parish Churchyard of Dumfries. Adam and Charles Black. p. 100.
  10. ^ Dod's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage of Great Britain and Ireland for 1866, Including All the Titled Classes (26 ed.). Whittaker. 1866. p. 159. OCLC 28172148.