Robert Sanford was an English explorer of the Province of Carolina in the 18th century on behalf of the eight Lords Proprietor of the Province of Carolina. He followed Captain William Hilton in the search for sites on the Carolina coast for establishing English settlements after the charter of 1663. Both Sanford and Hilton’s expeditions were based in Barbados, and Sanford was patronized by English planters in Barbados, including James Drax.