A Naval Biographical Dictionary/McCormick, Shepherd
M‘CORMICK. (Commander, 1841. f-p., 12; h-p., 32.)
Shepherd M‘Cormick was born in Jan. 1794. This officer entered the Navy, 17 Sept. 1803, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Repulse 74, Capts. Hon. Arthur Kaye Legge and John Halliday, to which ship he continued attached in the capacities of Midshipman and Master’s Mate until Feb. 1811. It was his fortune to be present, in consequence, in Sir Robt. Calder’s action 22 July, 1805; at the capture of the 'Marengo' of 80 guns, bearing the flag of Admiral Linois, and 40-gun frigate Belle Poule, 13 March, 1806; at the taking, 27 Sept. following, of Le Président French frigate; at the passage of the Dardanells, and the destruction of the Turkish squadron at Point Pesquies, in Feb. 1807; at the siege of Flushing in Aug. 1809; and on 30 Aug. 1810, when the Repulse gallantly rescued the Philomel sloop from capture, by interposing herself between that vessel and an advanced division of the Toulon fleet, which she compelled to put back. In Oct. 1811, after he had been for eight months employed with Capts. Halliday and Joseph Bingham in the Montagu and Egmont 74’s, he joined the Swiftsure of similar force; in the boats belonging to which ship, when off the island of Corsica, we find him assisting at the capture of a privateer, whose resistance occasioned her assailants a heavy loss. Being appointed Acting-Lieutenant, in March, 1813, of the Volcano bomb, Capts. Wm. Fairbrother Carroll, David Price, and John Wyat Watling, Mr. M‘Cormick (whose promotion was confirmed 25 June following, and who continued in the same vessel until Aug. 1815) was at first very actively employed in co-operation with the army on the coast of Catalonia, where he frequently landed and was wounded during the arduous investment of the fort of St. Philippe in the Cul de Balaguer, mounting 12 pieces of ordnance, wiith a garrison of 101 officers and men. Proceeding subsequently to the coast of America, he was afforded an opportunity, previously to participating in the operations against New Orleans, of serving with the boats of a squadron at the capture, on Lake Borgne, 14 Dec. 1814, of five American gun-vessels, after a very desperate struggle in which the British sustained a loss of 17 men killed and 77 wounded. On 31 of the preceding Oct., the Volcano, at the time in charge of a transport, had succeeded, with a loss to herself of 2 persons killed, in beating off the U. S. privateer Saucy Jack, a vessel of far superior force, 7 of whose people were slain and 14 wounded. During the insurrection of 1837 in Canada, Mr. M‘Cormick received five balls through the body and a sabre-cut across the right loin while effecting the capture of a piratical steamer, the Caroline. This led to his promotion to the rank he now holds, 23 Nov. 1841. He is at present on half-pay.
Commander M‘Cormick is in the receipt of a pension of 91l. 5s. for his wounds. He married, in Dec. 1821, Miss Charlotte Roe, a lady by whom he has issue six children. Agents – Burnett and Holmes.