One of the more interesting and all encompassing locations in Halifax is the waterfront boardwalk, known locally as The Harbourwalk. It stretches for about 1½ kilometres along the Halifax waterfront. On the harbourwalk one will find active warships, the
ONLY - Ship to serve the Royal Canadian Navy in Both World Wars, the
ONLY - Remaining Royal Canadian Navy Corvette, ferry rides across the bay, sculpture, monuments and memorials to historic persons and war veterans, the
OLDEST and LARGEST Maritime Museum in Canada, the
OLDEST - Working Clock in Canada, a
Segway Rental Business, seafood restaurants, historic sites and buildings and, of course historic markers. The historical markers tell the story of the city of Halifax and its people.
This marker remembers Provo Wallis, a sailor who went on to become Admiral of the British Fleet.
Haligonian Provo Wallis was second lieutenant aboard the HMS Shannon during the War of 1812 and served as temporary captain during the capture of the USS Chesapeake. Wallis was promoted to commander and went on to have an illustrious and lengthy career in the Royal Navy, ultimately serving as admiral of the fleet.
Image: Robert Field (artist), National Gallery of Canada
From the marker
Sir PROVO WILLIAM PARRY WALLIS
Born April 12, 1791 in Halifax, he was a grandson of Provo Wallis, a naval shipwright who served in the Seven Years’ War and the War of American Independence and then settled in Halifax. Provo Featherstone Wallis had followed his father into the Halifax dockyard, and through his connections in the service was able to prepare his son for a naval career at a very young age. The only record of Wallis’s boyhood shows him borne on the books of several ships from the age of four, although he obviously did not go to sea. In later years he recalled that as a child he was sent to England to be educated and commented, “My real career commenced from the time I joined the Cleopatra, in October 1804.”..
In January 1812 Wallis joined the crack frigate Shannon, commanded by Philip Bowes Vere Broke, sailing out of Halifax and Bermuda, and after the outbreak of war with the United States destroyed or captured several American vessels... On the morning of 1 June 1813 the Shannon was blockading Boston Harbor when the American frigate Chesapeake came out to engage her. As the two ships closed, lieutenants Charles Leslie Falkiner and Wallis directed the guns of the Shannon’s starboard battery in an intense fire that almost disabled the Chesapeake. Broke led the boarders and the British gained control of the enemy vessel after 11 minutes. In one of the shortest and bloodiest ship-to-ship battles in naval history, Broke had his skull split open, the American captain was mortally wounded, and both frigates lost many men.
For his part in the taking of the Chesapeake, Wallis had been promoted commander on 9 July 1813... He continued to receive awards and distinctions... On 11 Dec. 1877 he obtained his final promotion with his elevation to admiral of the fleet. He was reportedly very proud of his title of vice-admiral of the United Kingdom and regretted having to relinquish it on his promotion. Wallis received one additional honour which proved quite lucrative. In 1870 the Admiralty had introduced a new retirement scheme which included a provision to retain on the active list the officers who had commanded a ship during the Napoleonic Wars. As a consequence, Wallis received full pay until his death at the age of 100. When one considers that he was first borne on a ship’s books at the age of four and began active service at 14, his career must surely have been one of the longest in naval history.
From Biographi Canada