Page:A Naval Biographical Dictionary.djvu/1255

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WALKIE—WALL.
1241

five years employed in the East Indies. On 31 Aug. 1807 he assisted at the capture, in the port of Samarang, of a Dutch schooner of 8 guns, in company with a large merchant-brig; and on the day following he was present at the taldng, with two other vessels (the Resolutie armed merchant-ship of 700 tons, richly laden, and the Ceres, a remarkably fine brig in the Dutch Company’s service, of 12 guns and 70 men) of the Scipio corvette of 24 guns. He afterwards accompanied Brigadier-General Malcolm as Ambassador to the Persian court; aided in suppressing a mutiny among the native troops at Travancore; made a voyage to Macao in quest of two French frigates; suffered many severe hardships while returning thence to Prince of Wales Island; again escorted Brigadier-General Malcolm to the Persian Gulf; and co-operated in the reduction of the Isle of France and Java. On his arrival home in Aug. 1812 he joined as Master’s Mate (a rating he had already attained) the Rhin 38, Capt. Chas. Malcolm; in which frigate, after affording support to the patriot cause on the north coast of Spain, he proceeded with convoy to the West Indies. In Jan. 1815, he removed to the Royal Oak 74, flag-ship of Rear-Admiral Pulteney Malcolm, at the time engaged in the operations against New Orleans; and in the following May he was presented with a commission bearing date 15 Feb. preceding. He has since been on half-pay. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.



WALKIE. (Commander, 1841. f-p., 21; h-p., 23.)

John Walkie was born in 1781, and died about the commencement of 1848.

This officer entered the Navy, 18 Oct. 1803, as Midshipman, on board the Bolina tender, Lieut.-Commanders John Greig and Chas. A. Baumgardt, stationed at Liverpool and Plymouth; and, from 5 Nov. 1804 until 31 Aug. 1808, was employed in the Channel and West Indies, in South America, and at the Cape of Good Hope in the Staunch gun-brig, Lieut.-Commander Benj. Street. Being nominated, 30 Sept. 1805, Acting-Master of the latter vessel, he served as such during the operations of 1807 in the Rio de la Plata. While engaging the batteries for the purpose of diverting the attention of the enemy from the besieging army during the attack upon Monte Video, he was wounded; and, in the disastrous attempt made by Lieut.-General Whitelocke upon Buenos Ayres he proved of utility in sounding the inner harbour, as well as by the assistance he afforded in placing the gun-boats in a position to attack the citadel. In April, 1807, he took part in a spirited action of two hours fought off Colonia between the Staunch and two Spanish schooners and five gun-boats of very superior force, one of the former of which was driven on shore – the rest escaping. On leaving the Staunch, Mr. Walkie removed as Acting-Master to the Otter sloop, commanded by the late Sir Nesbit Josiah Willoughby; under whom we find him, when in company off the Isle of France with the Raisonnable 64, Capt. Josias Rowley, engaged in an affair with two French frigates; both of which, however, succeeded in getting safely into port. At the capture in Sept. 1809 of the town of St. Paul’s, Ile de Bourbon, it was Mr. Walkie’s fortune to obtain the thanks of the Senior officer, Capt. Rowley, for the essential service he performed in blowing up the batteries, destroying the guns, and pulling down the barracks. He was rewarded too by being appointed, in the following Nov., Acting-Master of La Bourbonnaise (late Caroline), a prize-frigate taken on the latter occasion, the command of which had been given to Capt. Robt. Corbett; under whom, on his return to England, Mr. Walkie became, in June, 1810, Acting-Lieutenant in the Africaine of 48 guns and 295 men. On 11 Sept. following, being again off the Isle of France, he was wounded in the boats under Lieut. Geo. Forder in a gallant but unsuccessful attack upon a schooner, in which the British sustained a loss on the whole of 2 killed and 16 wounded. Two days after this the Africaine, at the end of a close action of two hours and a half, wherein 49 of her officers and crew were killed and 114 (including her Captain mortally) wounded, was under the necessity of striking her colours to the French frigates Iphigénie and Astrée, carrying between them 86 guns and 618 men, 10 of whom were killed and 35 wounded. Mr. Walkie was taken a prisoner to the Isle of France, and there detained until its subjugation by the British in the ensuing Dec. He then joined the Clorinde 38, Capt. Thos. Briggs, with whom he continued employed as Acting-Lieutenant and Lieutenant (commission dated 20 May, 1812) on the East India, Cork, and Mediterranean stations until July, 1816 – the last year and nine months in the Leviathan 74. He was next, 2 June, 1824, appointed to the Astrea 6, Capt. Wm. King, at Falmouth; on which station he held command, from 16 Sept. in the same year until July, 1832, of the Goldfinch packet. He remained thenceforward on half-pay. His promotion to the rank of Commander took place 23 Nov. 1841. We may add, that when with the valiant Willoughby in the Otter, he saw much brilliant boat-service.



WALL. (Lieutenant, 1815. f-p., 23; h-p., 20.)

Allen Wall was born 23 Sept. 1790. His father was a merchant of standing in the city of London; and one of his relatives. Governor Hollwell, was for some time confined in the Black Hole at Calcutta. Two of his brothers were in the Naval Service: one of them, a Lieutenant of the Calcutta 56, Capt. Dan. Woodriff, was captured in that ship, after a gallant action, by the Majestueux 74, part of a squadron under M. Allemand, 26 Sept. 1805. He was for many years a prisoner in the fortress of Bitche; and on his return to England, where he soon died, he published a history of his captivity. This officer entered the Navy, 19 Aug. 1804, as a Volunteer, on board the Helena 18, Capts. Woodley Losack and Jas. Andrew Worth; in which sloop, employed on the coast of Ireland and among the Western Islands, he aided in making prize, 5 June, 1805, of the Santa Leocadia Spanish privateer of 14 guns and 114 men, and in effecting, at different times, several recaptures. In Dec. 1808 (he had already attained the rating of Midshipman) he removed as Master’s Mate to the Demerara 18, Capts. Wm. Bourchier, Wm. Dowers, Wm. Bertie, Thos. Hunlocke, Thos. Donnithorne, Geo. Kippen, and Wm. Henry Smith, on the West India station where we find him, in 1809-10, warmly engaged with the enemy at the reduction of Martinique and Guadeloupe. At the taking of the former island he was in the first boat that touched the shore previously to the storming of Fort Edward. When in company with the Pultusk brig, he was employed in the boats in cutting out a letter-of-marque under the batteries of Guadeloupe. An attack of yellow fever compelled his being sent on one occasion to’ the hospital at Antigua. On returning to his ship he found but 20 living out of a crew consisting originally of 84. From the Demerara he removed, in March, 1812, to the Statira 38, Capt. Hassard Stackpoole. In her he proceeded to the coast of North America. While in charge there of the Apollo, a recaptured ship of 8 guns, he beat off, with but 8 men on board, an American privateer, after an action of two hours, in the course of which he was wounded in the side. On another occasion, the Statira having retaken an American brig, the Adelaide, he was sent on board during a fog, accompanied by 3 men only. On the fog dispersing, he found himself in the midst of an American squadron; whose presence obliged the Statira to make all sail. Left thus to his own resources, he secured an American Midshipman and Mate, who had been left in the prize; made for the shore; and, having got inside the rocks, succeeded, with the assistance of a fishing-boat, in reaching in safety the port of Shelburne. In Jan. 1813, being on his passage home in the Spye store-ship, Master-Commander Rich. Anderson, he took part in a spirited engage-