Captain Hall

“ Of these forerunners of a gale none is more striking than the repeated looks of anxiety which the captain casts to windward, as if his glance could penetrate the black sky lowering in the north-west, in order to discover what was behind, and how long with safety he might carry sail. Ever and anon he shifts his look from the wind's eye, and rests it on the writhing spars aloft, viewing with much uneasiness the stretching canvas all but torn from the yards. ”

“ Captain Hall's enthusiasm, which begins to mount at the sight of icebergs, whales, and the novelty and grandeur of arctic scenery, reaches its climax when he finds himself in an unexplored region, the solitary guest of this wild and eccentric people, and depending, like them, for his daily sustenance on the resources of nature alone. ”

“ As a man and a citizen. Captain Hall was fifty-nine years of age at the time of his demise. He was born in South Harniss and followed the sea until 1871, when he founded the firm of Hall and Company, which was for some years the leading dealer in fresh and salt fish in this section of the state. ”

“ On shore all was bustle and activity. The people had no longer leisure for jealousy; and, so far from viewing us with hatred and distrust, hailed us as friends; and, for the first time, we landed at Callao without apprehension of insult.”
On the 13th Dec, Captain Hall went to the palace to breakfast with the Protector of Peru, and to see a curious mummy, or preserved figure, which had been brought the day before from a village to the northward of Lima, and is now in the British Museum, it having been sent to England in the Conway. ”

“ If I could refresh you with the bottle of Madeira and plate of biscuits which Captain Hall contrived to conjure into the block manufactory, while a very clear-headed man was explaining to us its capital machinery, I might venture to drag you along with us through the rolling-mill and the Cyclops regions where the anchors are forged; but here I let you off for this busily pleasant day, at the moment of our parting with Captain Hall, and the interchange of hearty wishes that we might meet again in the Isle of Wight. ”

“ In 1842 Hall's mind gave way; he was placed in Haslar Hospital, and died there on 11 Sept. 1844, leaving a widow (d. 1876) , by whom he had two daughters and a son, Basil Sidmouth De Ros Hall, who died, a captain in the navy, in 1871. Perhaps the best known of Hall's works is the 'Fragments of Voyages and Travels' (three series, each in 3 vols. 12mo, 1831-3, and frequently reprinted) , which, in addition to the subject-matter of the title, contains many interesting accounts of the internal state of the navy in the early part of the century. ”

“ Captain Hall, a man of extraordinary talents, a great traveller, and a rich man, has made the most of all, and I found him the best of company. From thence to friend Neill's establishment in the Old Town to see at what time my memoranda must be ready for the press; to my astonishment I was told that to-morrow was my last day, and I ran home to scribble. Professor Monroe called on me with a friend and asked me what I would take to draw skulls, etc., for him; then Mr. Syme brought an engraver to consult with me on the subject of my portrait being immortalized. ”

“ To say that I found not one exaggerated statement throughout the work, is by no means saying enough. It is impossible for any one who knows the country not to see that Captain Hall earnestly sought out things to admire and commend. When he praises, it is with evident pleasure, and when he finds fault, it is with evident reluctance and restraint, excepting where motives purely patriotic urge him to state roundly what it is for the benefit of his country should be known. ”

“ When the firm went out of business in 1879, Captain Hall followed the sea again, commanding the ships Faraway, Fair Wind, and Treasure Seeker, and the bark Apollo. Later he retired from the sea and has not been active in the same or otherwise since. In 1894 he married Augusta Bangs Lathrop, widow of the late Reverend Charles Lathrop, formerly pastor of the Congregational Church in this town. ”

“ On the 3d July, 1795, Lieutenant Hall was appointed by his patron to command the Lynx sloop of war, but his commission does not appear to have been confirmed by the Admiralty till Jan. 1796; previous to which, he had been superseded by another officer, on whose demise, in October following, he was re-appointed to that vessel.
Among the captures made by Captain Hall whilst in the Lynx, we find la Solide, l’lsabelle, and le Mentor, French privateers, the latter carrying 14 guns and 79 men. 3340 ”

“ The eventual success of the great voyage of life lies with themselves; the captain's duty, as a moral commander-in-chief, is done if he sets his juvenile squadron fairly under weigh. It is in vain to conceal from ourselves, that, unless both officers and men can be embodied more or less as a permanent corps, every ship that is commissioned merely furnishes a sort of fresh experiment in naval discipline. The officers are brought together without any previous acquaintance with one another ”

“ Still further forward, before the galley, in the very nose of her, as the foremost nook or angle of the ship is called, and a little on one side, lies the sick-bay, or hospital; at the door of which the surgeon, backed by his assistants, receives the captain and his double the first lieutenant, and his double the mate of the main-deck. In they march, all in a row. The captain takes care not to pass any invalid's hammock without dropping a word of encouragement to its pale inmate, or begging to be informed if anything further can be done to make him comfortable. ”

“ Mrs. Bailey had hugged her and had talked a good deal about Captain Hall's being a changed man since his wife's death. “He used to be so different, jolly and good-natured and sociable; you wouldn't know him now if you seen him then. When your mamma was took it just seemed to wilt him right down. He was awful sick himself for a spell, and when he got better he was like he is today. Seems as if HE died too, as you might say, and ain't really lived since. I'm awful sorry for Cap'n Marcellus. You must be real good to him when you grow up, Mary-'Gusta.” ”

“ Of course, the moment the skipper appears, the men along the whole line take off their hats, smooth down their locks, make many clumsy efforts to stand erect, fumble interminably with the waistband of their trousers, and shuffle, to more or less purpose, according to the motion of the ship, to maintain their toes exactly at the line or seam in the deck along which they have been cautioned twenty times they are to stand. The captain, as he moves slowly past, eyes each man from head to foot, and lets nothing pass of which he disapproves. ”

“ The order has been given to take in the second and third reefs only; but the men linger at their posts, expecting the further work which they know is necessary. The captain of the top, instead of moving in, continues to sit astride the spar, dangling his legs under the weather yard-arm with the end of the close reef-earing in his hand, quite as much at his ease as any well-washed sea-bird that ever screamed defiance to a pitiless south-wester. ”

“ The capture of la Solide was considered by the merchants and inhabitants of St. John’s Newfoundland, a service of great importance to their interests, she having hoisted the bloody flag, and threatened to plunder and lay waste the neighbouring defenceless coast. They accordingly sent Captain Hall a letter of thanks, for the protection he had thus afforded to the colony [1] .
We next find Captain Hall commanding the Assistance of 50 guns; in which ship he conveyed H.R.H. the late Duke of Kent, from Halifax to England, aod arrived at Plymouth Aug. ”

“ At length, when every square inch of the holds, tiers, sail-rooms, and all the cabins and berths below, have been examined, the visitation party return to the quarter-deck, after a full half-hour's ramble. As the captain re-ascends to the different decks in succession, the men, who have never budged from their divisions, again pluck off their hats, the marines carry arms the moment his head shows above the coamings, and all the officers stop instantaneously in the middle of their walk to salute their commander, as he once more treads the quarter-deck. ”

“ I rushed on deck. Near the companion lay the old merchant, life ebbing fast away from a deep gash on his head, which had rendered him all but senseless; one of his daughters was kneeling over him, her hands uplifted as if to protect him from further violence. Brand Hallton was furiously engaged with the captain, whom he had driven right aft, and, as I appeared, a blow from his cutlass sent him reeling into the sea. Giving one cry for help, which Hallton answered with a laugh of derision, he cast a look of despair towards the ship, and the waters closed over him for ever. ”

“ Hall died almost on the spot with which his name must ever [pg 269] be associated, and it is a melancholy fact that he should not have lived to reap the honours and rewards due to so much enterprise. The Polaris, a steam vessel of small power, and unadapted for the Arctic seas, had been taken to a point which the finest vessels ever employed in the exploration of the far north had previously failed in reaching.
THE FUNERAL OF CAPTAIN HALL. The death of Captain Hall threw the command of the Polaris on Captain Buddington. ”

“ On the 26th May, Captain Hall sailed from Valparaiso, and proceeded along the coast towards Lima. During the greater part of this voyage the land was in sight, and he had many opportunities of seeing not only the Andes, but other interesting features of the country. ”

“ A captain of sense and feeling, therefore, makes it his business, in the first place, to find out what is right and proper, consistently with the rules of the service, and then to ascertain how far the peculiar nature of the employment upon which the ship is engaged will admit of indulgences. Having settled with himself what is possible to be done with propriety, he should grant it not as a matter of personal favour, but simply because it is fitting in itself. ”

“ As the captain walks aft, along the lower deck, he comes to the midshipmen's berth, or room, in which the youngsters mess. It is the foremost and largest of a range of cabins built up on each side, and reaching as far aft as the gun-room, or mess-place of the commissioned officers. It is only in line-of-battle ships that the mids mess in the cockpit; while in frigates they not merely mess but sleep in the part of the lower deck called, I know not why, the steerage. I ought to have mentioned that before the cabins of the officers, and abaft those of the sailors, lie the berths of the marines ”

“ Even Captain Hall himself expresses uneasiness from time to time lest he should become an object of suspicion to them, or give them a motive for revenge. They are one of the few peoples of the extreme north with whom the Hudson's Bay Company have hitherto failed to establish relations of commerce. ”

“ Off goes the said skipper to his ship, in a great fume and hurry, carrying a whole sail in the gig, though on ordinary occasions he chooses to have a reef in. Souse comes the wigging on the hapless first lieutenant; and he, in turn, only waits till the captain goes below, that he may open a volcano of reproaches on the long-suffering middies, who, though they probably now hear of the offence for the first time, know much better than to make any reply. ”

“ The indifference to danger and fatigue which was habitual to this great captain cost him, I believe, his life when travelling in the interior of India, near Seringapatam. He reached a station at which a fresh set of palanquin bearers were to have met him, but had been prevented by some accident. "It matters not," he cried, "let us walk." And sure enough he set off to perform on foot a stage which might have been dangerous on horseback; for the sun had nearly risen to the meridian, and there was hardly a breath of wind. ”

“ As no English man-of-war had ever before anchored in the port of San Bias, the arrival of the Conway created considerable interest; and she was scarcely secured before boats were seen bustling on board, from all quarters, to enquire for and to give news. On the next day. Captain Hall set out for the neighbouring town of Tepic, to learn the state of the commercial intercourse with England, and whether he could in any way contribute to advance the interests of the British trade in that quarter. ”

“ If this fails, the hands are called, upon which the captain himself, or more generally the first lieutenant, takes the trumpet; and the men, hearing the well-known, confident voice of skill, fly to the proper points, "monkey paw" the split sails, clear the ropes, which an instant before seemed inextricably foul, and in a very few minutes reduce the whole disaster to the dimensions of a common occurrence. "Now, you may call the watch," says the captain; and the reproved officer again takes charge of the deck. ”

“ The captain's wife begins to pack up her band-boxes in order to return home, while the Jews and bum-boat folks are pushing all the interest they can scrape together to induce the first lieutenant to give them the priority of entrance with their goods and chattels on the approaching pay-day. The sailors' wives about this period besiege the captain and his lady alternately, with petitions to be allowed to go to sea in the ship; to all, or most of which, a deaf ear must be turned. ”