Basil Hall

Infobox Military Person
name= Basil Hall
lived= December 31 1788 – September 11 1844
placeofbirth= Edinburgh, Scotland
placeofdeath= Royal Hospital Haslar, Portsmouth


caption=
nickname=
allegiance= flagicon|United Kingdom United Kingdom
serviceyears= 1802 to 1823
rank= Royal Navy Captain
branch=
commands=
unit=
battles=
awards=
laterwork=

Basil Hall (31 December 1788 – 11 September 1844) was a British naval officer from Scotland, a traveller, and an author. He was the second son of Sir James Hall, 4th Baronet, an eminent man of science.

Biography

Although his family home was at Dunglass, Haddingtonshire (now East Lothian), Basil Hall was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. He was educated at the Royal High School and joined the Royal Navy in 1802, being commissioned a Lieutenant in 1808, and later rising to the rank of Captain.

Hall commanded many vessels involved in exploration and scientific and diplomatic missions. While serving aboard HMS "Endymion", Hall witnessed Sir John Moore being carried dying from the Battle of Corunna.

In 1810 he voyaged to Rockall aboard the "Endymion" and in 1811 was part of the very first landing party upon it. His hazardous exploits in returning with this party were described in "Fragments of Voyages and Travels".cite book
title=Fragments of Voyages and Travels
last=Hall |first=Basil
location=London
date=1831]

Hall explored Java in 1813 and in 1817 interviewed Napoleon (who had been an acquaintance of his father) on St. Helena.

From the beginning of his naval career he had been encouraged by his father to keep a journal, which later became the source for a series of books and publications describing his travels. These included "Account of a Voyage of Discovery to the West Coast of Corea and the Great Loo-Choo Island in the Japan Sea" (1818), which was one of the first descriptions of Korea by a European, and "Extracts from a Journal Written on the Coasts of Chile, Peru and Mexico" (1823).

Hall's journals also provide one of the few accounts of the wreck of the "Arniston" in 1815, which gave its name to the seaside town of Arniston, South Africa. As a captain, he was very critical of the fact that this ship did not have a marine chronometer with which to calculate longitude, and attributed the great loss of life directly to this false economy.Cite book
author = sc|H|all, Basil
year = 1833 1862
chapter = Chapter XIV. Doubling the cape.
title = The Lieutenant and Commander
location = London
publisher = Bell and Daldy (via Gutenberg.org)
oclc = 9305276
url = http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/17032
accessdate = 2007-11-09 – Chapter reprinted from his "Fragments of Voyages and Travels", 3rd series (1833).]

Following his retirement from the navy in 1823, Hall was married on 1 March 1825 to Margaret Congalton (d. 1876), the youngest daughter of Sir John Hunter, Consul-General in Spain by his spouse Elizabeth Barbara, sister to Sir William Arbuthnot, 1st Baronet.

In 1826, when Sir Walter Scott was sunk in depression following his wife's death and financial ruin, Hall who organised a trip to Naples for Scott, managing to persuade the government to place a ship at his disposal.

In 1829 Hall published "Travels in North America" which caused some offence due to his criticisms of American society. His best known work was "The Fragments of Voyages and Travels" (9 volumes, 1831-1840)sc|W|orld|C|at (2007 online). [http://worldcat.org/oclc/6909482?tab=editions "Editions of "Fragments of voyages and travels"] . WorldCat.org., originally released as three yearly series of eight volumes eachES 2006.. He also contributed to the Encyclopaedia Britannica and wrote scientific papers on subjects as varied as trade winds, the geology of Table Mountain and a comet he observed in Chile.

Suffering from mental illness, Hall was detained in the Royal Hospital Haslar at Portsmouth (England), where he died.

In addition to a son, their daughter Eliza married Admiral William Charles Chamberlain.

Bibliography

* "Account of a Voyage of Discovery to the West Coast of Corea and the Great Loo-Choo Island in the Japan Sea" (1818)
* "Travels in North America in 1827-28" (1829)
* "Fragments of Voyages and Travels" (1831–1833)
* "A Winter in Lower Styria" (1836)
* "Spain and the Seat of War in Spain" (1837)

Notes

References

*, John; sc|B|urke, John Bernard (1848). "Royal Families of England, Scotland, and Wales, with Their Descendants, Sovereigns and Subjects. Vol. 1". London: E. Churton, pedigree CXXVI.
*
*, Basil | date = 1820 | title = On the Proper Method of laying down a Ship's Track on Sea Charts | format = via Google Books | journal = The Edinburgh Philosophical Journal | volume = 2 | issue = 4, April 1820 | pages = pp. 281–282 (from 276–282) | location = Edinburgh | publisher = Archibald Constable for Royal Society of Edinburgh | oclc = 1567491 | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=aioAAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA281 | accessdate = 2007-11-12 ]
*, Basil (1825). "GD206/2/545" (archived letter). National Archives of Scotland. A letter from Captain Basil Hall, R. N., to John Tod, Esq., concerning the announcement of his marriage to Margaret, youngest daughter of late Sir John Hunter, Consul General in Spain, on 1st March 1825.
*, John; sc|W|ilson, E. J., ed. (1894). "Reminiscences and Notices of Ten Parishes of the County of Haddington". Haddington: W. Sinclair, p. 215.

External links

* [http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A(Hall%2C%20Basil%2C%201788-1844)%20-contributor%3Agutenberg%20AND%20mediatype%3Atexts Works by Basil Hall] at Internet Archive (scanned books original editions color illustrated)
* (plain text and HTML)