He entered the naval service as a Midshipman, on board the Otter sloop of war, commanded by Captain John Oakes Hardy, in 1787, and continued in that vessel till June 1789, when he joined the Adamant, of 50 guns, bearing the flag of Sir Richard Hughes, from which ship he removed into the Thisbe frigate on the coast of North America.
Mr. Halliday subsequently served in the Juno frigate, with the late Sir Samuel Hood; in the Lion, 64, Captain Finch, on the West India station; and Melampus frigate, Captain (now Sir Isaac) Coffin. From the latter he was appointed in June, 1793, to command a hired cutter employed under the orders of Rear-Admiral Macbride, at the siege of Dunkirk, and in various services on the coast of Flanders. His promotion to the rank of Lieutenant took place in 1795, on which occasion he was commissioned to the Serpent sloop of war; but soon after joined the Culloden, a third-rate, commanded by the late gallant Sir Thomas Troubridge, with whom he served on the Mediterranean station, where he was made a Commander, and appointed to act as Captain of the Nemesis frigate, in which he escorted a large fleet of merchantmen to England. His post commission bears date Sept. 19, 1796.
Captain Halliday subsequently commanded the Doris, of 36 guns, in which frigate he cruised with considerable activity and success. His next appointment was, in 1807, to the Gibraltar, of 80 guns; and from her he appears to have removed into the Repulse, 74, on the Mediterranean station. During the autumn and winter of 1810, he was entrusted with the command of the in-shore squadron off Toulon, and whilst on that service displayed great gallantry in a single-handed affair with a French squadron which had come out of port for the purpose of liberating two store-ships then blocked up at Porquerolle, and by which, but for Captain Halliday’s determined conduct, the Philomel sloop of war would inevitably have been captured.
In the spring of 1811, our officer exchanged into the Montagu, 74, and in that ship returned to England. During the ensuing four years, he commanded the Tigre, of 80 guns; and served successively on the Channel and North Sea stations, at St. Helena, and in the West Indies. His advancement to the rank of Rear-Admiral took place Aug. 12, 1819. He assumed
