Frederick (or more often, Fred) Shepherd was best known as a designer of cruising yachts.  He worked for Arthur E Payne and later Lory and Cornwallis in their London offices before setting up his own practice in 1899 in Norfolk Street off London’s Strand.  In 1921 he moved to Swanwick on the River Hamble in Hampshire and in 1926 became a partner in Frederick Shepherd and Morgan Ltd which opened the Swanwick Shipyard to build yachts.  This was short-lived and he soon returned to London re-establishing himself at 199 Piccadilly as a designer, broker and surveyor.

In 1934 Shepherd took on Fred Parker as a pupil.  Parker, in his early twenties at that point, had just completed his apprenticeship as a shipwright with Berthon Boat Company in Lymington.  The pair worked closely together during the remainder of the 1930s and they collaborated particularly closely on the design of Amokura and Maybird.  Indeed Maybird’s design drawings include pencil-note conversations between the two.  After Shepherd’s retirement Fred Parker went on to design around 30 more yachts many of which were built at Moody’s yard at Swanwick.

Fred Shepherd continued to be based in Piccadilly until September 1939.  When war broke out he shut the London office and effectively retired to Kings Somborne in Hampshire.

Click here for details of other Shepherd-designed yachts.