Hall

Hall, BASIL, writer of travels and miscellaneous works, was born in Edinburgh, 31st December 1788. He was the son of Sir James Hall of Dunglass, baronet (1761-1832), the founder of experimental geology (see GEOLOGY), also distinguished as a chemist and as author of a work on Gothic architecture. Basil entered the navy in 1802, and became post-captain in 1817. When Lord Amherst was sent on a mission to the court of Peking in 1816, Hall commanded a sloop in the naval escort, and visited some places along the western coast of the Corea which were little known to Europeans. The chief results of his explorations were published in A Voyage of Discovery to Corca and the Great Loo-Choo Islands (1818), a book which took the popular fancy. After this he wrote Extracts from a Journal written on the Coast of Chili, Peru, and Mexico in 1820-22; Travels in North America in 1827-28 (a work that was violently assailed by the American press); and, also popular, Fragments of Voyages and Travels (9 vols. 1831-40). Hainfeld (1836), a semi-romance, and Patchwork (1841), a collection of tales and sketches, also came from his pen. He was a Fellow of the Royal Societies of London and Edinburgh, and a member of the Astronomical Society of London, and the author of various articles in the scientific journals of the day. He died insane in Haslar Hospital, Gosport, 11th September 1844.