John James Robinson was born in London about 1798. He arrived in the Hawaiian islands in 1820 as a carpenter on the whale ship Hermes which passed the Thadeus (carrying the first protestant missionaries from New England) while rounding Cape Horn.  In 1843 he married Rebecca Kaikilani Prever, a descendant of Hawaiian chiefess Kamakana.

On April 8, 1822 the Hermes sailed from Honolulu with the Pearl for the newly discovered Japanese whaling grounds. At night in a storm both ships wrecked on an unknown atoll, since then known as the Pearl and Hermes Reef. (The wrecks were located and explored in 2004.) The men got to shore on a tiny island in the lagoon and were able to rescue enough timber and supplies to build (under Robinson's direction) a 30-ton schooner which they named Deliverance. Before they had launched this vessel a British ship was sighted and most of the 57 men boarded her, but 12 including Robinson chose to purchase the Deliverance and sail for Honolulu. The 1050 mile journey took ten weeks and they arrived with only two gallons of fresh water left.