John Sheppard (VC)

On the night of 15 July 1855, Boatswain’s Mate John Sheppard launched a solitary covert operation inside the heavily defended waters of Sevastopol Harbour. Operating independently from the main force of the Royal Navy’s Naval Brigade, Sheppard slipped into the water using a small canvas duck punt he had personally designed and constructed for covert infiltration. His objective was to paddle covertly to a Russian line-of-battle ship, affix an explosive device fitted with a time fuse to its underwater hull, and detonate the warship before escaping under cover of darkness.

Launching his punt into Careening Bay under the protection of French shore sentries, Sheppard navigated past the Russian steamboats patrolling the harbour entrance. As he pushed westward toward the anchored Russian fleet, he encountered a dense, continuous line of troop boats moving infantry between the Inner Harbour and the northern shore. Unable to pass through the line without revealing his presence, he aborted the attempt and manoeuvred back to allied positions undetected.

Four weeks later, on 16 August 1855, Sheppard mounted a second attempt. Penetrating the harbour under similar hazard, he was again thwarted by defensive troop movements and heavy waterborne patrols, forcing him to withdraw without fixing his explosive device. Rear-Admiral Lord Lyons commended the operations as bold and gallantly executed, while Captain Henry Keppel submitted Sheppard’s name for gallantry recognition.

The official Victoria Cross citation, published in the London Gazette on 24 February 1857, recorded:

"For having, on the 15th of July, 1855, gone into the harbour of Sebastopol, in a punt, specially constructed for the purpose, in order to blow up one of the Russian line-of-battle ships. He succeeded in passing the Russian steamboats, which guarded the entrance of Careening Bay, but was prevented from getting further by a long line of boats, filled with troops, which were passing maintain communication between the North and South sides. Sheppard made a second attempt, on the 16th of August, but was again unsuccessful."

Sheppard was born in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, on 22 September 1817. He entered the Royal Navy as an Ordinary Seaman aboard the frigate HMS Fantome on 16 October 1840, advancing to Able Seaman and Captain of the Forecastle over three years of sea service. Between 1844 and 1853, he served ashore in the Coast Guard at Wells and Burnham in Norfolk, returning to active naval service on 25 October 1853 aboard HMS St Jean d'Acre as a Boatswain’s Mate under a ten-year engagement.

His Crimean deployment began in the Baltic theatre during 1854 before HMS St Jean d'Acre was reassigned to the Black Sea. On 12 July 1855, three days prior to his first explosive punt raid, he transferred to HMS Royal Albert. He attained warrant rank as Boatswain Third Class on 23 November 1855, serving aboard HMS Supply, HMS St Vincent, and HMS Cruizer.

Because Sheppard was actively deployed in East Asia aboard HMS Highflyer, he could not attend Queen Victoria's first public investiture at Hyde Park on 26 June 1857. His Victoria Cross was forwarded to Hong Kong, where Captain C. F. A. Shadwell formally presented the decoration to him in 1858 at the Palace of the Tartar General in Canton, alongside fellow Victoria Cross recipients Colour Sergeant John Prettyjohn and Able Seaman James Gorman. His service during the Second Anglo-Chinese War included active engagement at the capture of Canton.

Sheppard advanced to Boatswain Second Class in February 1858 and Boatswain First Class on 16 June 1862. Subsequent sea postings included HMS Dauntless, HMS Asia, HMS Hastings, HMS Indus, HMS Trincomalee, HMS Cumberland, HMS Agincourt, and HMS Pembroke. He retired from naval service on 17 May 1870. He died at Padstow, Cornwall, on 17 December 1884 at sixty-seven and was interred in Padstow Cemetery. His eight-medal collection is preserved at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich.