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UK / China: Admiral Sir William Hutcheon Hall (c. 1797 – 1878), Commander of the iron steamship Nemesis during the First Opium War (1839-1842)

UK / China: Admiral Sir William Hutcheon Hall (c. 1797 – 1878), Commander of the iron steamship Nemesis during the First Opium War (1839-1842)

Admiral Sir William Hutcheon Hall, KCB, FRS (c. 1797 – 25 June 1878), was a British officer in the Royal Navy. He served in the First Anglo-Chinese War and Crimean War. In China, he commanded the iron steamship Nemesis of the East India Company.

In November 1839, Hall obtained command of Nemesis of the British East India Company in China, where he served in the First Anglo-Chinese War (1839–43). The ship's first engagement was against Chinese forts and a fleet of junks in the Second Battle of Chuenpee on 7 January 1841. He was Mentioned in Despatches for his part in the battle. He was also present at the Battle of First Bar on 27 February.

In commemoration of his service, he was commonly known in the navy as 'Nemesis Hall'. William Dallas Bernard, an Oxford graduate who studied life and customs in China, used Hall's notes to write an account of the war in the 'Narrative of the Voyages and Services of the Nemesis from 1840 to 1843' (1844).

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