William Hutcheon Hall

Admiral Sir William Hutcheon Hall, (c. 1797 – 25 June 1878), was a British Royal Navy officer. He served in the First Anglo-Chinese War and Crimean War. He was one of the first British officers to make a thorough study of steam engines. In China, he commanded the iron steamship Nemesis of the East India Company. Although it was not officially commissioned as a Royal Navy warship, the Admiralty enabled Hall to count his time in the Nemesis as if he had served in one of Her Majesty's Ships. Early life and career Hall was born circa 1797 in Berwick, Northumberland, England, to William Hall and his wife Mary (née Hutcheon). He joined the Royal Navy on 24 October 1811 as a first-class volunteer on board under Captains George Byng and John Tremayne Rodd. In 1816–17, he served as a midshipman under Captain Basil Hall, with whom he attended William Amherst's embassy visit to China. After returning to England in November 1817, he was appointed to the frigate, , under Captain Robert Mends in the West Africa Squadron. He was later promoted as master of the sloop, . In this rank, he served in the British West Indies, Mediterranean, and Home stations until 1836. After studying steam engines in Glasgow, Scotland, and on board steamers trading to Ireland, he travelled to the United States, where he was employed in steamboats on the Delaware and Hudson. China In November 1839, Hall obtained command of Nemesis of the British East India Company in China, where he served in the First Anglo-Chinese War (1839–42). For his services, the Admiralty procured an Order in Council to enable it to make him a lieutenant on 8 January 1841. The Admiralty later obtained power to enable him to count his time in the Nemesis as if he had served in one of Her Majesty's Ships. The ship's first engagement was against Chinese forts and a fleet of junks in the Second Battle of Chuenpi on 7 January 1841. He was Mentioned in Despatches for his part in the battle. He later fought in the Battle of First Bar on 27 February, and the Broadway expedition on 13–15 March. In commemoration of his service, he was commonly known in the navy as "Nemesis Hall". William Dallas Bernard, an Oxford graduate who studied life and customs in China, used Hall's notes to write an account of the war in the Narrative of the Voyages and Services of the Nemesis from 1840 to 1843 (1844).