Colonial Campaigns Club (CCC)

Some probably know this story while others may not ... I didn't, before I read it in a footnote (fn. 6 to chapter 9) in J. Mackay Hitsman, The Incredible War of 1812: A Military History, ed. Donald E. Graves, reprint Toronto 2002; but it had me rolling on the floor, and so I thought it might be worth sharing. [8D]

Most may remember the story of how the frigate H.M.S. Shannon took the much larger U.S.S. Cheasapeake off Boston on June 1, 1813. Commanding the Shannon when she put into Halifax with her prize was a 21-year old junior lieutenant, Provo Wallis, her captain and senior lieutenants having been casualties.

Not only was that probably a proud moment for the young boy but it also helped to shape his carreer for a long time. Admittedly his service after the war was in no way exceptional. He became a post captain in the 1820s and purely by seniority--as was the custom of the day--he finally hoisted his flag in 1851.

Now fate intervened, or rather a usually ungenerous admiralty decided to make a gesture for once: they decided to allow all officers who had commanded a ship in the French Wars to stay on the active list for live. In practice that meant giving them an incentive to retire, as they could do that on full pay now, thus freeing positions for younger officers.

Now Wallis had commanded a ship for all of six days in 1813 but that meant he qualified. As he remained on the active list, and promotion was still strictly by seniority, he was made a full admiral in 1863, and finally Admiral of the Fleet in 1876, at the ripe age of 85. The admiralty had expected that the privilege granted to the French War ship captains would soon be a rather theoretical matter in an age where life expectancy was considerably lower than today, but Wallis was the exception of the rule; he just refused to die and kept holding up everyone else's promotion by staying on top of the list as honorary head of the navy.

Around his 90th birthday the admiralty asked him to retire voluntarily, but Wallis said he was fine with the situation. The admiralty then resorted to pointing out to him that, as he was technically still on the active list, he could be given a command. Wallis said he'd be delighted, but wondered if he'd be of much use, never having served on a steam-propelled ship before. (Even the RN had phased out most of their sailing ships by the 1890s.) The admiralty finally gave it up, and Wallis remained Admiral of the Fleet until he finally died shortly before his 101st birthday in 1892. On paper, he had completed 96 years of active service in the Royal Navy. [:D]

Great story!!!

WoW! a really neat story [:D]