WALLIS, Samuel, English navigator, born about 1720; died in London in 1795. He entered the navy, commanded a division of cutters in Canada in 1760, and after the conclusion of peace was charged with the completion of the discoveries of Captain John Byron in the Pacific. Sailing from Plymouth, 22 August, 1766, he anchored in the following November near Cape Virgins on the coast of Patagonia, where he had intercourse with the natives, and discovered that they were not giants, as had been asserted by former navigators. On 17 September he entered the Strait of Magellan, which he explored for four months. Leaving the strait on 11 April, Wallis discovered Pentecost island on at June, 1767, and later Queen Charlotte island. He returned to Dover, 19 May, 1768, and in 1780 was appointed commissioner of the admiralty, which post he retained till his death. Wallis's narrative was published in John Hawkesworth's collection, entitled "An Account of the Voyages undertaken for making Discoveries in the Southern Hemisphere" (3 vols., London, 1773).