Captain Cynthia Robson

CAPT Cynthia Robson began her scouting journey in 1965 as a Girl Scout, eventually earning the First Class/Gold Award as a Senior. Her Dad, an Eagle Scout, was a Scoutmaster, and her Mom was a Den Mother (1970s). In 1974, CAPT Robson joined the Boy Scouts and was active in Medical, Wilderness, and Sea Explorer Troops in the Sam Houston Area Council.

Remembering her formative experiences as a youth in scouting, CAPT Robson sought to foster the same by becoming involved in Scouts as an Adult Leader in the Theodore Roosevelt Council on Long Island.  She formerly served as a Cub Scout Den Leader and Committee Chair of Locust Valley Pack 135. She is currently Cub Scout Round Table Commissioner, Shelter Rock District, and Skipper of Sea Scout Ship 12 in Oyster Bay. CAPT Robson earned Woodbadge and Seabadge, and was recently awarded the District

Award of Merit.

Captain Robson is married to an Eagle Scout, CAPT Daniel Robson, USN, and has two boys, one a Land Scout, the other a Sea Scout. As a family, they enjoy living and voyaging aboard their classic boat, the Endurance.

Captain Robson is a Master Mariner, holding a license to sail as Captain of vessels of any tonnage on any ocean for 30 years. In addition to sailing as Master aboard merchant vessels, she sailed as Chief Mate and relief Master aboard the Tall Ship Elissa, an 1877 Barque. She served in the Gulf War as Executive Officer aboard a U. S. Naval Ship. Captain Robson was selected by the Maritime Administration to sail as an American Officer aboard the Soviet Sail Training Ship Druzhba during the 1990 trans-Atlantic Soviet-American Sail, and was a visiting professor at the National Maritime Academy in Odessa, Ukraine.

Captain Robson is currently a Full Professor of Nautical Sciences in the Department of Marine Transportation at the United States Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York, where she teaches or has taught courses in celestial, terrestrial, and electronic navigation, ship handling, bridge resource management, maritime security, maritime regulatory environment, firefighting, seamanship, and survival at sea (SOLAS) since 1995.

Captain Robson is an industry advisor and consultant and has worked as an expert witness on numerous admiralty cases. She has published and presented papers on experiential learning and the use of simulation in facilitating shiphandling skills. She served for over ten years on the USCG Navigation Safety Advisory Committee. In the weeks following 9/11, she helped support FDNY by carrying first responders and supplies to ground zero in concert with midshipmen aboard the As an expert on piracy and maritime terrorism, she published papers, wrote part of a book, and spoke at several conferences on the subject. She briefed government entities in Kenya on the topic of Maritime Terrorism as a part of the Anti-Terrorism Program for the Department of State under the Bush Administration following the terrorist attack on the American Embassy in Kenya.

Captain Robson has served for over 20 years as Secretary and Officer on the Board of the Marine Society of the City of New York, chartered in 1770 for the purpose of promoting education and charity in the maritime industry. She was honored to be invited to serve on the Board of the Liberty Nautical Education Center, and shares the vision of creating a path to success for tomorrow’s leaders through experiential maritime programs such as the Sea Dart II voyages and other Sea Scout area events.