Posted by Cathy Gowdy on Tuesday, March 26, 2013 at 06:39:33 :
Independent Journal
Friday, January 20, 1956
Page 1
The Sea Was His Life
Capt. Leighton Robinson Dies In Mill Valley Home
Capt. Leighton Robinson, known as “the old man” to his many Mill Valley and sea-faring friends, died yesterday morning at his Mill Valley home on Edgewood avenue at the age of 84.
From the time he shipped out of his native Cornwall, England, at the age of 14 as a cadet on the HMS Conway, a training ship, the sea was his life.
When he was no longer skippering his own ships, “Cappy” Robinson was the hand on the helm for Marin youths who might otherwise have gone astray. Those who sailed under him on his yacht, White Heather, recall that he never spoke in anything else but a “quarterdeck voice,” although the craft was only 40 feet long.
Countless times he took command for distraught parents. Making it plain to youngsters that there was no compromise for decent behavior.
ACTIVE IN SCOUTING
A Mill Valley resident for 47 years, he was active in scouting during all of those years. Captain Robinson was one of the first Marinites to receive the Silver Beaver, highest leadership award given by the Boy Scouts of America. He was sea scout commissioner from the time the office was formed, shortly after his retirement in 1941.
Captain Robinson was one of the founders of the Mill Valley Boy Scout Council in the days of scouting’s inception. The local council gave way later to the Marin County Council, of which he was a long-time board member.
Active in scouting to the last, he attended the National Jamboree in Santa Ana in 1954. Last Tuesday night he attended the county council’s annual business meeting in San Rafael.
SCOUT HALL TRUSTEE
He was one of three trustees of the Mill Valley Boy Scout Hall and was on the southern district board of the county council. He was a force in organizing the sea scout regatta held a few years ago. In San Francisco, he was active in leadership of the Girl Mariners, girl scout sea organization.
For 36 years, beginning in 190_, Captain Robinson was deputy ship commissioner for the Port of San Francisco, signing seamen on ships, protecting them from the rigors of shore life, issuing pay and smoothing out labor problems.
One of the oldest living members of the San Francisco Yacht Club, he had been perennial port captain longer than most members could remember.
His love of the sea was carried on through reunions with old cronies and such projects as saving the sailing ship Pacific Queen and documenting Bay Area shipping lore – the latter as a member of the Nautical Research Guild.
From meetings of Adventure Camp Fire, an organization of “hardies,” he drew great happiness. His 50th wedding anniversary, celebrated seven years ago at the Inverness home of his protégé, Capt. Adolph S. Oko, brought together many of his old cronies.
Adventure Camp Fire was organized 40 years ago with Captain Robinson as a charter member. Meetings are held every two weeks in homes of members. Earlier hiking expeditions have given way to discussions of world topics. The original group met in Robinson’s Paradise Cove cabin.
In 1939 the ex-seafarer recorded sea chanties for the Library of Congress. He taught the sea songs to a group of local boys for the recordings, which are considered the finest of their kind.
He married the former Kate Zaun of San Francisco before t he turn of the century. It was she who persuaded him to retire from his sea career in 1905, whereupon he took the port commissioner post.
ROUGH YEARS
His seagoing years were rough ones, with storms, mutinies, revolutions, waterfront brawls and epidemics making it unlikely he would survive, as he did, to the age of 84.
He and his wife named their home at 123 Edgewood avenue Melanope, after the sailing ship he commanded on a run which still holds the sailing ship record. The Melanope ran from San Francisco to Sidney, Australia, in 40 days.
Born in Helston, Cornwall, England in 1871, Captain Robinson first saw San Francisco in 1888, three years after he first shipped out to sea. He chose the area for his retirement, settling in Mill Valley.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by a son, Col. Shayer Robinson, USA, and a daughter, Guinevere. His grandson, Leighton McKenzie, who was killed during World War II, sparked the captain’s role in helping the Conservation League get land set aside for Tomales Bay State Park. He urged that a living park be established as a monument to Marin war dead.
Captain Robinson also is survived by two brothers and two sisters in England, Harold and Trevor Robinson and Iris Middleton-Woods and Guinevere Thorne, and a brother, Basil Robinson of Vancouver, B.C. The latter is en route to Mill Valley for the funeral. Colonel Shayer is flying from Governor’s Island, where he is a member of the Army’s General Staff.
Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday from the Memorial Chapels of Russell and Gooch, Mill Valley. Private interment is planned.
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