d. 1862-04-02
Documents early in the collection, including an enclosure from
this one from 1849, report the arrival of Captain Shepherd at
Vancouver Island in the HMS
Inconstant.
William Loney RN—Ships notes that a John Shepherd was made captain of the
Inconstant on
4 December 1847.
1 The Fort Victoria journals mention the arrival of Captain Shepherd and the
Inconstant in
May of 1849.
2Douglas was certainly pleased to have Shepherd and the
Inconstant at
Esquimalt, as can been seen in an enclosure to this despatch, in which
Douglas reports to Shepherd of the
severe contest, with the lawless American population in Oregon.
In October of
1849, Shepherd was requested by
certain merchants at San Francisco
to
see what could be done in arresting the desertion of several crews belonging to the
vessels of those merchants.
3 Crewmen aboard several boats had deserted, or wished to, as all were anxious
to go to the [gold] diggings,
and Shepherd used ordanance to keep order, even aboard his ship.
4 On 24 November 1858, Shepherd became a rear admiral.
5
- 1. Peter Davis, John Shepherd, William Loney RN—Ships.
- 2. 1849 May, Fort Victoria Journal, 1846-1850.
- 3. Captain Shepherd of H. M. S. 'Inconstant', HANSARD, 1803-2005.
- 4. Ibid.
- 5. William Laird Clowes, The Royal Navy: A History (London: Sampson Low, Marston and Company, 1901), 7:570.