# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Hall, Edward (a)

Layout 4
​HALL. (Ret. Capt., 1846. f-p., 21; h-p., 40.)
Edward Hall (a) entered the Navy, in Nov. 1786, as a Boy, on board the Cygnet sloop, Capt. Nicholls, with whom, and with Capt. Manley Dixon of the Orestes, and Lieut. Jas. Hill of the Pilote, he served, on the Channel and Irish stations, until Jan. 1789. Re-embarking in Aug. 1793 on board the Juno 32, Capt. Sam. Hood, he proceeded to the Mediterranean, and in Jan. 1794 was present in that ship when she effected a memorable escape from the inner harbour of Toulon, into which she had entered in ignorance of the previous evacuation of the place by the British. In Jan. 1795, after having assisted at the siege of Bastia as Midshipman of the Illustrious 74, Capt. Thos. Lennox Frederick, he became attached to the Berwick 74, Capt. Adam Littlejohn, under whom, who fell in the action, he was captured by the French fleet, notwithstanding a brave defence, 7 March following. Being soon afterwards, however, restored to liberty, he rejoined Capt. Frederick on board the Blenheim 74, and had thus an opportunity of witnessing the evacuation of Corsica, and of sharing, 14 Feb. 1797, in the action off Cape St. Vincent. He removed, immediately subsequent to the latter event, to the Victory 100, and Ville de Paris 110, successive flag-ships of Earl St. Vincent; before he had been long under whom he was appointed, 1 May, 1797, Acting-Lieutenant of the Namur 98, Capt. Jas. Hawkins Whitshed, stationed off the ​port of Cadiz, where he was confirmed, on 10 June in the same year, into his former ship, the Victory, Capts. Thos. Sotheby and Wm. Cuming. During the last four years of the French revolutionary war we find him further employed, on the last mentioned, and on the Mediterranean, Channel, and West India stations, in the Blenheim and Princess Royal, both flag-ships of his old Captain, then Rear-Admiral Frederick, and Juste 80, Capts. Sir Henry Trollope, Rich. Dacres, and Sir Edm. Nagle. Having spent a few months of the short-lived peace in the Africaine 38, commanded in the North Sea by Capt. Thos. Manby, Mr. Hall was subsequently appointed – in Dec. 1803, to the charge of a Signal Station at North Yarmouth – 3 July, 1805, as Senior, to the Zebra sloop, Capt. Wm. Standway Parkinson, employed in the Downs – 8 Oct. 1805, to the command of the Speculator lugger, on the same station – 22 May, 1806, and 18 Oct. 1807, again as First, to the, Nassau 64, Capt. Robt. Campbell, and Prince of Wales 98, bearing the flag of Lord Gambier, in the former of which ships (besides commanding her boats, in conjunction with those of the Mosquito, at the cutting-out and destruction of several vessels at Ebeltoff, in Jutland) he contributed to the reduction of Copenhagen – 30 Nov. 1807, to the command of the Eijderen, a Danish prize lying in the river Medway – 20 May, 1808, again to the Nassau, Capt. E. Campbell, attached to the force in the North Sea – in Jan. 1809, to the Impress service at Dundee, where he remained until Nov. 1810 – and, 16 April, 1811, as First, to the Tremendous 74, commanded by his friend Capt. Campbell, on the Baltic and Channel stations. He obtained a second promotal commission 12 Aug. 1812; and accepted his present rank 5 Nov. 1846. Agents – Messrs. Halford and Co.