Frederick William Wallace

Born in Glasgow on December 11, 1886, he became a Canadian journalist, photographer, historian, and novelist whose work centered on ships, sailors, and the fishing industry. His writing is closely linked with Canada’s Atlantic coast, and he is especially remembered for Wooden Ships and Iron Men (1924), a book that became a classic account of square-rigged vessels built in eastern Canada.

During the First World War, he served at sea as commander of a Q-Ship. After the war, he went on to edit the monthly journal Canadian Fisherman, a role that shaped much of his long career and kept him close to the working life of the maritime world he wrote about.

His books combined reporting, history, and storytelling in a way that made specialized subjects approachable for general readers. He died on July 15, 1958, leaving behind a body of work that helped preserve the memory of Canada’s sailing and fishing heritage.