Head Lands in China India from 1816 to 1846 – a sketchbook of coastal profiles

The coastal profiles from various voyages including HM Sloop Lyra, 1816-1817 (on the voyage of the Amherst Embassy); HM Ship Morgiana, 1822; HM Sloop Parthian; and HM Ship Briton. The profiles taken on voyages to China, the Americas and the Baltic, including 'Straits of Sunda', 'China and Yellow Seas', 'Coast of Corea', 'Island of Formosa', 'Island of Saint Helena', 'Coast of Africa', 'Islands near the Line', 'Entrance to the River Orinoco', 'Island of Tobago', 'Island of Trinidad', 'Bermuda', 'Coast of Holland', 'Shetland Islands', 'Gulf of Finland', 'Cape Breton Island', 'Nova Scotia', 'Madeira', and others, and two watercolour charts of Cork Harbour and Fishguard Bay, Wales.
Admiral Sir William Hutcheon Hall (1797-1878) served in the First Anglo-Chinese War and Crimean War. He was a midshipman under Captain Basil Hall on Amherst’s embassy to China (his midshipman's log of the Lyra the previous lot). 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) (for which see lots 79-81). 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 dispatches for his part in the battle, and 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”.