Obituary: Admiral Sir William Hutcheon Hall, F. R. S., K. C. B.Source: Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and Monthly Record of Geography,New Monthly Series, Vol. 1, No. 3 (Mar., 1879), pp. 214-216Published by: Wiley on behalf of The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of BritishGeographers)Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1800658 .

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214 OBITUARY.

the Society of Commercial Geography of Bordeaux with 1120, Amster? dam 924, Copenhagen 900, Brussels 831, Berlin 730, St. Petersburg 664, and so forth. It must be noted, however, that the aggregate of members in the numerous societies in France far exceeds that of any other nation. In annual income the Eoyal Geographical Society also takes the lead, the total being given by Behm as 79501., the Society of St. Petersburg coming next with 6675L; but the much larger Govern? ment grant of the latter, 24231.?the London Society figuring for 500Z.

only?here forms an important element.?With regard to geographical publications, Dr. Behm registers a marked increase in their number, many of them originating in private enterprise, and depending for their support on the general public. No less than twenty new geographical journals have sprung into existence since the end of 1876. Dr. Behm remarks that the growing interest in geographical subjects is far more clearly displayed by this rapid increase in the periodical literature devoted to them than in the formation of new societies.

#tutuati>*

Admiral Sir William Hutcheon Hall, F.R.S., K.C.B.?Another of the

distinguished members whose loss the Society has had to deplore since the last annual record, is Admiral W. H. Hall, one of those heroic spirits of whom England is so justly proud. He had attained his eightieth year when he died, on the 25th of June last. His public services were so lengthened, connecting the old war with that of 1854-56, and were also so varied, that a mere outline is all that can be attempted in this place.

The late Admiral entered the Navy as a volunteer of the first class (cadet) in

1811, on board the 74-gun ship Warrior, Captain the Hon. G. Byng, and was

actively engaged in the Baltic, North Sea, and Channel. In 1816-17 he served, as midshipman, under the celebrated Captain Basil Hall, with whom he attended Lord Amherst's embassy to China, his reminiscences of which, especially with reference to his visit to Corea, were given on more than one occasion at the evening meetings of our Society. He continued to serve without intermission; on one occasion attacking with boats and capturing a well-armed slaver, on another aiding in the capture of a piratical vessel; and displayed his courage and humanity by twice saving life by jumping overboard. In 1832 he witnessed the establishment of King Otho on the throne of Greece. From Mehemet Ali, the Pacha of Egypt, he, in common with a few other English ofiicers, received the gift of a sword.

After a year devoted to the study of steam machinery, we find him, in 1840-43, commanding the Honourable East India Company's war steamer Nemesis (for which service he was lent by the Admiralty), and employed, during the first war with China, upon the coasts and rivers of that country. The Nemesis wsls the first iron steamer to round the Cape of Good Hope, but she very narrowly escaped foundering: during a hurricane her iron sides were torn open, the cracks extending from the deck down to, and even below the water-line.* On several occasions she owed her safety to the peculiarity of her construction, in water-tight compartments. She commenced

* Vide * The Nemesis in China/ pp. 18-24.

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OBITUARY. 215

her distinguished career by an attack on the forts of Chuenpee, and the annihilation of eleven war junks, the flower of the Celestial Navy. So actively was she engaged, that her commander wTas present in twenty-one engagements, in one of which he seized and threw overboard an ignited shell-rocket; an act of personal heroism, worthy the Yictoria Cross, but which maimed his right hand for life. He was nine times mentioned with distinction in despatches. He also received the thanks of the Grovernor-Ceneral of India in Council; and, ere they parted, a presentation sword from his well-tried crew. So numerous, successful, and daring were his exploits, that the name of "Nemesis Hall," by which he was ever afterwards honourably distinguished, became a household word.

Such brilliant services could not be recognised in the ordinary way: he was made commander, by an Order in Council, in 1843, being also appointed to the Queen's yacht; and captain in 1844.

In 1845 he married the Hon. Hilare Caroline Byng, daughter of the late Vice- Admiral Lord Torrington, under whose command he had first gone to sea. He had sometime previously to this turned his attention to the wrongs of seamen ashore; and he now set himself to the founding of sailors' homes, with an energy and hearty zeal, which never flagged. He was the first who practically waged successful warfare against those " land-sharks," who make the sailor their prey. The wide development which this movement has assumed, must be attributed chiefly to his powerful advocacy?not fewer than twenty-one of the existing sailors* homes in the United Kingdom, besides several in our colonies, owing their origin to his great efforts?efforts which have endeared his memory to the hearts of many thousands of our seamen, who have benefited by them. For twenty-six years he was an active supporter also of the Shipwrecked Mariners' Society.

During the Russian war, 1854-55, he commanded the Hecla, of 6 guns, and the Blenheim, 72 guns, in the Baltic; took an active part in the destruction of Eckness, where he was again wounded, and in the capture of Bomarsund ; in short, no incon- siderable proportion of our successes in the Baltic was due to his exertions. For these services he was honoured by a communication from Her Majesty, conveying the expression of " Her personal feelings of approbation of his conduct in his late engagement." The Crand Duke Constantine also expressed himself as follows to one of the lieutenants of the Tiger, after the capture of that ship by the Russians:? " Of all the bold and seamanlike operations, this of Captain Hall taking his ship seven miles up a creek of intricate navigation, in an enemy's country, is the most daring I could have imagined. I cannot but admire such gallantry even in an enemy."

He received the Companionship of the Bath in 1856, and was made k.c.b. in 1867. In 1863 he became a Rear-Admiral; in 1866 he retired from active service, and received his promotions as Vice-Admiral and Admiral in 1869 and 1875. In 1871 his services were recognised by the bestowal of a good service pension. In 1847 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and in 1853 he became one of our members, serving afterwards for several years on the Council.

Although the Admiral seldom wrote at any length, yet his intelligent suggestions for the development of "our National Defences," obtained a wide-spread circulation. On such matters as arming merchant steamers, or employing fishermen and boatmen as part of our Naval Reserve, he elicited the warm approval of some of our most thoughtful officers. The defence of the Firth of Forth, which he strongly advocated, is now in course of execution. It is to be hoped that the harbours of refuge on our east coast, which he also recommended, may likewise be carried into effect, and thus add to the imperishable memorials with which his name is already associated.

The late Admiral was undoubtedly a man of no common type: unsurpassed

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216 OBITUARY.

courage and energy were in him united to a spirit of philanthropy, tenderness, and generosity, such as is rarely equalled. Perhaps the predominant features of his character were its amazing force, and inflexible honesty of purpose. As an offieer, a sailor, and a noble-minded English gentleman, Sir W. Hall has left no superior.

M. Nicholas de Khanikoff, Honorary Corresponding Member of the Society, and gold medallist of the Societe de Geographie of Paris, was born in Russia on the 24th October, 1829. After compieting his education at the Lyceum of Tsarsko-selo, near St. Petersburg, he entered in December, 1836, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and was thus placed in favourable circumstances for devoting himself to the line of study in which he was destined to distinguish himself. In 1842 he accompanied ButiniefFs mission to Bokhara, and on this occasion visited Samarkand, being the first European in modern times to enter that venerable city. In the following year he published his ' Description of the Khanate of Bokhara,' in Russian, a work that was translated into English in 1845 by Baron de Bode. For many years M. de Khanikoff resided in Northern Persia, in the official capacity of Russian Consul at Tabriz, and it was during his tenure of this office that he collected the materials for his map of Azerbaijan, of which the late Sir Roderick Murchison said, in one of his anniversary addresses, that it filied-in topographical details in Persian Kurdistan and completed the researches of his predecessors in the same field?Generals Monteith and Rawlinson. He wras after? wards attached to the staff of Count Bariatinsky, at Tiflis, and whilst there planned an expedition into Eastern Persia and the districts of Herat and Sistan. This, which was afterwards known as " the Khorassan Expedition

" included the names of Lenz, Bunge, Count Keyserling, and Goebel, and the results of their labours were pub? lished in various scientific journais. M. de Khanikoff's work, ' La partie meridionale de PAsie Centrale,' appeared, in Paris, in 1861. His * Ethnographie de la Perse' was another important contribution to the literature on this country.* In the preface its author states that although his personal observations had been limited to particuiar parts of Persia, yet in order to do justice to his subject he had felt bound to include the whole country in his treatise. His last geographical work, undertaken at the request of the Imperial Geographical Society, was the translation of Ritter's * Iran,' forming vol. vi. of the Russian annotated edition of the ' Erdkunde von Asien.' For many years de Khanikoff resided in Paris, where he acted as agent of the Minister of Public Instruction. Here he continued his favourite literary pursuits, passing his summers in the environs of the capital, where he died, at Rambouillet, on the 15th November last year, regretted by a large circle of friends and acquaintances. In 1874 Nicholas de Khanikoff paid the last of his numerous summer visits to England, attending, as he had. frequently done before, the meeting of the British Association of that year. All who knew our late associate could not fail to entertain a high regard for his great ability and knowledge, and join in the regrets expressed on his decease that he has left behind him comparatively so few monuments of his genius.

Mr. Edward Coe Taintor, who died suddenly at Shanghai on the 16th of last May, at the early age of thirty-six, entered the Chinese Customs service in August, 1865, and became a Commissioner in October, 1873. On his arrival in China our Associate applied himself with great diligence to the study of the language and the

country generally, and he soon became a contributor to 'Notes and Queries on Chiua and Japan' (1867-8), and afterwards to other local periodical literature. Eeveral of the Trade Reports made by Mr, Taintor in his official capacity, contain matter of interest from a geographical point of view. Apart from these he published

* Besides these, mention should be made of an article on Meshed, in the * Tour du Monde* for 1861.

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