Sir Benjamin Hallowell, one of Admiral Horatio Nelson's famous "Band of Brothers," served a lifetime in the navy of Great Britain through the American and French Revolutions between 1775 and 1815. His dramafilled life was profoundly shaped by the currents of history, with strong connections with Canada and the United States through his Boston-bred, staunchly Loyalist family. Bryan Elson's thoroughly researched biography illuminates Hallowell's career and his personal life during these history-shaping events. Through Hallowell's eyes, readers will witness key events in British imperial history during this dramatic period when Britain was able to gain scendancy over its arch-rival France to "rule the waves."

Nelson's Yankee Captain: The Life of Boston Loyalist Sir Benjamin Hallowell

Biographies & Memoirs

Elson, Bryan

Historical

Formac Publishing Ltd.

This is a story drawn from the early days of the Canadian Navy, an account of four young Canadian seamen who were the Navy's first casualties at the beginning of the First World War. Ironically, many consider them victims of incompetent seamanship by a British naval officer.The four were among the 21 young men who made up the first class of the Royal Navy College of Canada, set up in 1911 shortly after the Canadian Navy itself was established in 1910. All four sailors were from Canada's Maritime provinces. After their training at the College, they were posted to the British Navy for further experience at sea.William Palmer, first in his graduating class, and Arthur Silver, senior Cadet Captain, both from Halifax, were personally chosen by Rear-Admiral Christopher Cradock to go to war on the large and powerfulBritish vessel Good Hope. Their comrades John Hatheway of Fredericton, and Malcolm Cann of Yarmouth, were also selected, to the disappointment of the remaining men. Within six weeks, these our much-envied comrades were dead as the Good Hope went down with no survivors, sunk by the German navy.First to Die depicts the early history of Canada's navy and the reality of war at sea, experienced through the eyes of the four young midshipmen eager for adventure. The book is extensively illustrated with photographs drawn from key archival and private collections.

First to Die: The First Canadian Navy Casualties in the First World War (Formac Illustrated History)

History

Americas

This book offers a fresh perspective on North American history, and the key role played by Halifax and Victoria in ensuring that Canada emerged as an independent country in the 20th century. Brian Elson focuses on the significance of the bases for the all-powerful British navy at Halifax and Victoria through the 19th century and the First World War. As he explains, Halifax gave the Royal Navy the land base they needed to project British power along the whole east Atlantic coast of North America. Victoria's Esquimault did the same thing for the Pacific coast. During the 1800s the United States grew dramatically, adding huge swaths of lands west, south and north that had belonged to France, Spain, Mexico, and Russia – while pushing aside native peoples. More than once the American government came into conflict with Britain over British territory in North America. There were threats of war and annexation, and American popular support for absorbing Canada was strong. In this book Bryan Elson shows how the British presence in Halifax, and later in Victoria, stood in the way of US designs on Canada. American leaders knew that the British Navy, with its bases on both coasts, had the power to cut them off from the rest of the world with a naval blockade. The American threat to Canada was effectively countered by the British presence in these two cities. The two bastions played their most important role in the early years of the First World War. As Bryan Elson explains, in 1914 the United States stood aside while the British Empire, including Canada, took on Germany. In this situation, the British navy – including the Canadian navy's first east coast warship – mounted a show of force by stopping all incoming and outgoing traffic from the port of New York. This lasted until the US finally opted into the war, on the side of Britain, in 1917. Meanwhile, on the west coast the Equimault naval base was buttressed by the extraordinary action of the B.C. provincial government – which at the start of the war bought two new submarines from a shipyard in Seattle for the fledgling Canadian navy.

Canada's Bastions of Empire: Halifax, Victoria and the Royal Navy 1749-1918

Formac

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