Shepherd, Captain John
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. Naval historian Peter Davis 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 1849.2
Douglas 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 force to keep order, even aboard his ship.4 On 24 November 1858, Shepherd became a rear admiral.5
Mentions of this person in the documents