Jack Sheppard (cave diver)
{{short description|British cave diver}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2022}}
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| name = Jack Sheppard
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| birth_name = John Arthur Sheppard{{citation needed|date=March 2022}}
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1909|03|31|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Lewisham, Kent, United Kingdom
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2001|07|14|1909|03|31|df=yes}}
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| known_for = Cave diving
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John Arthur Sheppard (31 March 1909 – 14 July 2001) was a pioneer of cave diving in the United Kingdom and a founder, together with Graham Balcombe, of the Cave Diving Group.
Life and career
He was born at Lewisham, Kent (south east London) on 31 March 1909.{{citation needed|date=March 2022}} Sheppard worked for the Post Office as a telecommunications engineers. They became rock climbing partners and while based in Bristol became interested in the caves of the Mendip Hills, particularly Swildon's Hole which they believed connected to Wookey Hole Caves. They proved this by putting dye into the water at Swildon's and seeing it emerge at Wookey.
Various attempts were made to enter these underwater cave systems using shore-based pumped-air diving suits, without much success. An initial dive in 1934 was unsuccessful and the first successful dive was the following year at Wookey Hole. They returned with improved equipment and succeeded in further exploration.{{cite book|last=Burgess|first=Robert F.|author-link=Robert Forrest Burgess|title=The Cave Divers|year=1999|publisher=Aqua Quest Publications|location=Locust Valley, New York|pages=23–29|isbn=1-881652-11-4|lccn=96-39661|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LbwrLGZDMHMC&pg=PA23|chapter=The Wet Speleologists}}{{cite web|url=http://www.cavedivinggroup.org.uk/Essays/History/JBArticle.html|title=The Cave Diving Group|last=Buxton|first=John S.|publisher=CDG|access-date=28 September 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081031073104/http://www.cavedivinggroup.org.uk/Essays/History/JBArticle.html|archive-date=31 October 2008|url-status=dead}} Sheppard constructed his own dry suit, incorporating an oxygen rebreathing system, and used this to make the first successful cave dive in Swildon's Hole on 4 October 1936.{{cite web|url=http://www.cavedivinggroup.org.uk/Articles/Sheppard.html|title=Jack Sheppard|work=Cave Diving Group|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070730213014/http://www.cavedivinggroup.org.uk/Articles/Sheppard.html|archive-date=30 July 2007|access-date=29 December 2007}}
For the initial 1934 dive Sheppard and colleague Francis Graham Balcombe constructed the first underwater breathing apparatus for cave diving. This amazing contraption was constructed with recycled household items, including a bicycle pump and tobacco tin. It provided the means for the pioneering exploration of Swildon's Hole and other caves in Mendip. The bicycle respirator is composed of several key elements: rubber mouth attachment, a flexible hosepipe, bicycle pump and tobacco tin stopper, all held together with metal clips. It is a kind of homemade snorkel but designed to be attached to a pump to supply the air for underwater cave diving. The bicycle respirator can be seen at Wells and Mendip Museum.{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TdMh2hwqzgMC&q=Jack+Sheppard+cave+diver&pg=PA102|title=Limestones and Caves of Wales|last=Farr|first=Martyn|date=2011|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-16913-4|editor-last=Ford|editor-first=Trevor D.|pages=102–5|language=en|chapter=Cave diving in South Wales}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.wellsmuseum.org.uk/netherworld-of-mendip|title=Netherworld of Mendip {{!}} Wells & Mendip Museum {{!}} Wells|website=Wells Museum – Main|language=en|access-date=2020-01-29}}
During his later life, Jack Sheppard was made Honorary President of the Cave Diving Group.
He died 14 July 2001.
See also
References
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{{Underwater diving|unddiv}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheppard, Jack}}