James William was educated in Hobart, Tasmania and later Providence, Rhode Island.
James was working at a Tasmanian bay-whaling station at the age of 15, when he received the news that his father had unexpectedly died.
When the ship failed to reach Heard Island, Robinson requested the United States schooner Mary Powell to become tender.
The Mary Powell suffered a shipwrecking and Robinson as well as his crew was rescued by another schooner, the Cornelia.
[3] While on the voyage his wife gave birth to James Kerguelen Robinson on 11 March 1859 and became the first person born south of the Antarctic Convergence.