HALL, BASIL, CAPTAIN, R.N., was born at Edinburgh in 1789. his father, Sir James Hall, Bart., of Douglass, was President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He was the author of an ' Essay on the Origin, Principles, and History of Gothic Architecture,' published in 1813, and a frequent contributor of scientific papers, chiefly on gees• logical subjects, to the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Sir James Hall was married to Helen, a daughter of the fourth Earl of Douglas.
Basil Hall entered the royal navy in 1802; in 403 received his first commission as lieutenant ; in 1814 was promoted to the rank of com mander; and in 1817 ho was made a post-captain. The opportunities which the naval profession affords both for scientific pursuits and the study of men and manners in various climes happened in Captain hall's case to lead him into scenes of more than usual interest ; or perhaps it would be more correct to etato that hie eager and indefatigable pur suit of knowledge induced him to seek every means of extending the sphere of his observations. In 1913, when acting commander of the Theban on the East India station, he accompanied Sir Samuel hood, the admiral, in a journey over the greater part of the island of Java. Soon after his return to England he was appointed to the command of the Lyra, a small gun-brig, in which he accompanied the expedition which took out Lord Amherst as ambassador to Chine. While the ambassador was pursuing his journey inland to Pekin, Captain Hall in the Lyra visited the places of greatest interest in the adjacent seas. and on his return to England in 1817 he published A Voyage of Discovery to the Western Coast of Corea, and the Groat Loo Chou Island in the Japan Sea.' There is an appendix to the work, which contains charts and various hydrographical and scientific notices. A second edition was published in 1820, in which the scientific details are omitted ; and in 1827 the work appeared in a still more popular form as the first volume of 'Constable's Miscellany.' In this edition there is an interesting account of Captain Hall's interview at St. Helena with the ex-emperor Napoleon. Sir James Hall (Captain Hall's father) had been the emperor's fellow-student at Brienne, and was the first native of Great Britain whom the emperor recollected to have seen. Captain Hall was next employed on the South American station in command of the Conway. The period was one of great interest to tho Spanish colonies of South America.
Having returned to England early in 1923, Captain Hall published 'Extracts from a Journal written on the Coasts of Chili, Peru, and Mexico, iu the years 1820, 1821, and 1822,' with an appendix contaiu ing a memoir on the Navigation of the South American station.
There are also appendices which contain various scientific notices ; and a paper by Captain Hall 'On the Duties pf Naval Commanders in-Chief on the South American Station before the appointment of Consuls.' In 1825 he married Margaret, youugest daughter of the late Sir John Hunter, Consul-general for Spain; and in April 1S27 he and his wife and child sailed from Liverpool for the United States, where they remained above a year, during which Captain Hall travelled nearly nine thousand miles by land and water conveyances. In 1829 he published his ' Travels in North America,' 3 vole. 8vo. He next published 'Fragmente of Voyages and Travels.' They form three series, each of three volumes, 12mo. In 1834 he met at Rome with a sister of Mrs. Dugald Stewart, who having married Count Pnrgstall, an Austrian nobleman, had resided many years at her sakes or castle of Heinfcld, near Gratz, in Styria. He accepted an invitation to visit the countess, and his book, 'Schloss Heinfeld, or a Winter in Lower Styria,' was the result of his notes during his resi dence there. Captain Hall supposes that Die Vernon, In Sir Walter Scott's novel of 'Rob Roy,' was sketched from Miss Cranstoun, which was the maiden name of the countess. Captain Hall's last work was published at the end of the year 1841, in three volumes, under the title of 'Patchwork.' It consists of detached papers, which embrace recollections of foreign travel, incidents worked into short tales, and a few essays.
Captaiu Hall was a Fellow of the Royal Societies of London and Edinburgh, and a member of the Astronomical Society of London. The following is a list of some of his scientific) papers :—' An Account of the Geology of the Table Mountain; Details of Experiments made with an invariable Pendulum in South America and other places for determining the Figure of the Earth ; Observations made on a Comet at Valparaiso. The above three papers are published in the Tran sactions of the Royal Society.' A Sketch of the Professional and Scientific Objects which might be aimed at in a Voyage of Research. A Letter on the Trade Winds, in the Appendix to Daniel's 'Meteoro logy ; ' with scientific papers in Brewster's 'Journal,' Jameson's ' Journal,' sad the Encyclopmdia Britannica.' Captain Basil Hall having been unfortunately seized with mental alienation, was placed in the Royal Hospital, Hasler, Portsmouth, where he died on the 11th of September 1844.