William Johnstone

He seized the couriers and brought their dispatches onboard.

William Johnstone, also recorded as John Johnstone, was born at Hanover in 1823 according to his naval record. He went to sea as a boy, worked in merchant ships and joined the Royal Navy in 1845. By 1854 he was a leading stoker in HMS Arrogant.

In August 1854, during Baltic operations, he accompanied Lieutenant John Bythesea ashore on Wardo Island to intercept Russian dispatches. After concealing themselves and watching the couriers, they captured three men and their mail. They returned to Arrogant with the prisoners and dispatches, an enterprise that earned both the Victoria Cross.

Johnstone later transferred to HMS Brunswick and became a ship's cook. On 20 August 1857, while serving in the West Indies, he attacked a shipmate and died by suicide. He was buried at sea in the St Vincent Passage. It is uncertain whether the cross sent to Brunswick reached him before his death; it was later returned for forwarding to his widow.