Appendix E: Biographies

Hall

Robert Hall was born 9/20 February 1761. He was taken from the English Navy into Russian service on 31 December 1774 / 11 January 1775 and came from Livorno (Leghorn) to Cronstadt in Vice-Admiral Samuel Greig’s (1735–1788) squadron. He spent all of 1775 in the Naval Corps studying naval science and in 1776–1778 was at sea, first in the Gulf of Finland and then on the Baltic Sea. He was appointed warrant officer (michman) in May 1779 and spent the next two years sailing from Cronstadt to Livorno and back on the frigate Simeon in the squadron of Counter-Admiral Borisov. On 1/12 January 1782, he was made a lieutenant and, after completing a course on the Simeon from Cronstadt to the English Channel, was appointed to Arkhangelsk. In 1783–1784, he completed two tours from Arkhangelsk to Cronstadt on the frigate Voz’mislav and the ship Vladislav. It has not been possible to find any information for the period from his birth until he entered the English Navy.1

“In 1785 he joined the Joseph Billings [c. 1758–1806] Expedition. He played an important role in moving men and equipment across Siberia, and in building two ships – the Slava Rossii (Glory of Russia) and Dobroe Namerenie (Good Intent) – in Okhotsk. However, in September 1789 the Dobroe Namerenie, with Hall in command, was taken out to sea and subsequently floundered. In Nizhekamchatsk during 1789–1791 Hall built and launched another ship, the Chernyi Orel (Black Eagle), and sailed her with Billings in the Slava Rossii among the Aleutian Islands as far as Unalaska. Rather than moving on to the American continent for further exploration, the expedition headed into the Bering Sea, visiting St. Lawrence Island and in August entering St. Lawrence Bay on the Chukotskii Peninsula. From here Hall returned to Unalaska with Gavriil Sarychev [1763–1831] and wintered over, 1791–1792, at the settlement of Illiuliuk. They had a difficult time; 17 men died of scurvy and most of the others became too unfit to handle the ship for a summer of exploration. Hall, therefore, came back to Kamchatka and undertook no further activities related to the expedition. Although he was a key figure in the overall Billings initiative, and important as a shipbuilder, Hall’s two voyages to Unalaska barely advanced Russian knowledge of the area or contributed to the scientific work of the enterprise.”2

“In 1790, Father Vasilii Sivtsov, chaplain to the navy expedition commanded by Joseph Billings, Roman Gall (Robert Hall), and Gavriil Sarychev at Three Saints Bay on Kodiak Island, chrismated a Tlingit man previously baptized by a layperson.”3

In 1805–1809, on the occasion of the rupture with England, he was removed from service and, together with other Englishmen in Russian service, sent to Moscow. Nevertheless, in that period he was made vice-admiral. He became a Russian citizen in 1810. He returned to St. Petersburg, and in 1811 was made commander-in-chief of the Black Sea fleet. In 1816, he was made commander of the Port of Riga. In 1830, he was made an admiral and appointed commander-in-chief of the Port of Arkhangelsk and military governor of the city.4

He received many orders, the final being, in 1839, the diamond attachments to the Order of Alexander Nevsky, which he had received in 1836.5

He died suddenly on 23 January / 4 February 1844, while standing during the Sunday morning service at the English Church in St. Petersburg (see Images 110–111).6 His funeral took place in the English Church on Thursday, 27 January / 8 February.7 Anna Whistler (see Images 1–5), who recorded attending the service, did not state on what day it took place, only that she attended. The mourners were predominantly miltary and she devoted her remarks to the pomp accorded Hall.8 On the next Sunday (30 January / 11 February), Rev. Law (see Image 253) spoke with praise of Hall, while delivering a sermon that concentrated on death.9 Hall was buried in the Volkov Lutheran Cemetery.10

A description of his voyage to the northeast shores of Siberia was first published in London in 1802 with the title An Account of a Geographical and Astronomical Expedition to the Northern Parts of Russia, performed in the Year 1785, to 1794, narrated from the Original Papers by Mart. Sayer. It was then translated into German, French, and Italian. It was translated into Russian by Captain Sarychev of the Billings Expedition in 1811, in St. Petersburg, under the title Puteshestvie kapitana Billingsa cherez Chukotskuiu zemliu, ot Beringova proliva do Nizhnekolymskogo ostrova, i plavanie kapitana Galla po sev.-vost. okeanu v 1791 g., s prilozheniem slovaria 12 narechii ètikh narodov [The Voyage of Captain Billings over the Chukot Land from the Bering Strait to Nizhnekolyma Island, and the Navigation by Captain Hall in the Northeast Ocean in 1791, with an Appendix of a Dictionary Containing Twelve Dialects of Those Peoples] (St. Petersburg: Morskaia tipografiia, 1811).11

Hall Island, a small, uninhabited island 3.5 miles northwest of Saint Matthew Island in the Bering Sea, is notable for its bird species and as a walrus haul-out. “Commodore Joseph Billings and Lieutenant G.A. Sarichev anchored between this island and Saint Matthews on July 14, 1791 [OS]. On American maps, since 1875, this island has been called ‘Hall,’ presumably for Lieutenant Robert Hall, who was with Captain Billings.”12

Admiral Hall’s wife was Natalia Elisabeth (Pegelov) Hall (31 December 1780 [OS] – 21 September 1853 [OS]).13 Admiral Hall’s daughter Elizabeth (25 May / 6 June 1801 – 21 August / 2 September 1887) was married to Nikolai Petrovich Tumillo-Denisovich (9/20 May 1791 – 9/21 October 1864), a lieutenant general in the Russian Navy.14 Both women were members of the Reformed Church.15 After the Admiral’s death, the two women continued to live in their house on the 9th Rota (Ninth Line) in the Liteinaia District.16 “Rota” was the word used in the Semyonov Regiment instead of “liniia” to mean “line”; both words mean “street.”17 Ninth Rota was also called Basseinaia Street.18

Notes