2279181Royal Naval Biography — Sheridan, JohnJohn Marshall


JOHN SHERIDAN, Esq.
[Post-Captain of 1815.]

Received his first commission at the close of the French revolutionary war, and was senior lieutenant of the Merlin sloop, Captain Edward Pelham Brenton, in several skirmishes with the enemy’s flotilla and land batteries, near Havre, after the renewal of hostilities, in 1803[1]. We subsequently find him in the Bellerophon 74, Captain Samuel Warren, on the Baltic station, where he assisted at the capture of a Russian land battery, mounting 4 long 24-pounders, and garrisoned by 103 men, June 19, 1809[2]. On the 7th of the following month, he behaved with distinguished bravery, in a successful attack made upon a valuable convoy, near Percola point, on the coast of Finland[3]. His commission as commander bears date Nov. 27, 1810.

On the 4th Oct. 1813, Captain Sheridan was appointed to the Terror bomb, in which vessel he appears to have been engaged with the American batteries near Baltimore, during the advance of the British army, under Colonel Brook, Aug. 13, 1814[4]. He also assisted at the capture of St. Mary’s, the frontier town of the state of Georgia, Jan. 14, 1815[5]. His promotion to post rank took place June 13th following, at which period he was acting as captain of the Levant 20.