Bill Robinson (author)
American sailor, author and editor
William Wheeler Robinson (October 4, 1918 – April 3, 2007) was an American sailor, author and editor well known in the national and international sailing community for his 27 nautical books, speaking engagements, and contributions to nautical publications.
Robinson was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and attended Princeton University from 1935 to 1939, graduating with a degree in English. He received a commission in the United States Naval Reserve in 1941 and served as an officer until 1945. He commanded a 110-foot wooden Navy subchaser - hull number SC 743 - in the Pacific theater during World War II - serving honorably in troop and ship convoys and in the invasions of Arawe, New Britain and Hollandia. LTjg Robinson was awarded the Bronze Star (with gold star denoting a second award) for his command's performance under air attack. He was a sportswriter at the Newark Evening News (1947–1955) and then the Newark Star Ledger (1955–1957) following his return to civilian life. He developed a nationally syndicated boating column while at the Star Ledger.
Robinson was an associate editor of Yachting magazine from 1957 to 1967 and executive editor from 1967 to 1978. He served as an editor-at-large for Yachting from 1978 to 1986, when the publisher was sold. He then served as an editor-at-large for the competing Cruising World magazine from 1987 to 1996.
The public source identifies “Bill Robinson (author)” as american sailor, author and editor. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Bill, Robinson and author.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4910674. VIAF identifies the subject as 265509441. The Library of Congress control number is n80046492. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1918, 2007, 1935 and 1939.
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This entry incorporates text from “Bill Robinson (author)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.