As given by this stamp by the Canadian Post.
In celebration of Black History Month, Canada Post has issued a commemorative stamp of William Hall, the first Canadian sailor and black man to receive the Victoria Cross, the military honour for bravery during combat.
Mr. Hall was awarded the Victoria Cross on October 28, 1859 from the British Royal Navy. The distinction was given after Mr. Hall defended a British garrison in Lucknow, India that had been attacked by mutineers. After his crew members on the ship HMS Shannon fell, Mr. Hall continued to fight and defended the garrison until relief forces arrived to secure the fort.
Mr. Hall became the first Canadian sailor, the first Nova Scotian, and the first black person to receive the Victoria Cross from the British Royal Navy. “Mr. Hall stands as a major figure in Canada’s military history and in the black community,” said Jim Phillips, Canada Post’s Director of Stamp Services. “It is particularly poignant that we honour Mr. Hall this year as the Canadian Navy marks its 100th anniversary.”
Born in 1825 to African-American parents who had been liberated from the U.S. slave trade, Mr. Hall began his nautical career at a young age, first joining the crew of an American trading vessel at age 19 and then enlisting in the British Royal Navy as an able seaman at age 27. During his career, Mr. Hall also received British and Turkish medals for his combat service during the Crimean War that ran from 1853 to 1856.
The commemorative stamp features an illustration of an older, decorated Mr. Hall. The image on the stamp was created from a photograph taken of Mr. Hall around 1900. On the stamp, Mr. Hall is shown against a seascape with the HMS Shannon in the background. He is wearing his Victoria Cross, the Indian Mutiny Medal, the Turkish Crimea Medal, and the Crimea Medal.
Engravings from the period at the top and bottom of the stamp pane move chronologically through Mr. Hall’s life and travels. Mr. Hall’s authentic signature – reproduced with permission from the Nova Scotia Museum – is printed across the middle of the stamp pane. Red dots scattered in the background highlight the places where Mr. Hall lived and traveled.
Built as wooden screw frigate by the Portsmouth Dry-dock at Portsmouth for the Royal Navy.
04 April 1851 ordered.
January 1851 keel laid down.
24 November 1855 launched as HMS SHANNON, one of the Liffey class.
Tonnage 2,667 ton (bm), displacement 3,915 ton. Dim. 285 x 50 x 18.4ft.
Powered by a 2-cyl expansion steam engine manufactured by John Penn & Sons, 600 nhp. single shaft, speed 11.8 knots.
Armament: middle deck 30 – 8 inch., upper deck 20 – 32pdrs. + 1 – 68pdr. on a pivot.
Crew 560.
29 December 1856 commissioned.
From commissioned under command of Capt. William Peel for the East Indies station.
March 1857 sailed for the China Station.
02 July 1857 at Hong Kong
When the Indian Mutiny broke out in May 1857 the SHANNON was underway to the China Station, she was intercepted and got orders to proceed Calcutta.
In Calcutta a Naval Brigade was formed of 450 men under command of Capt. Peel, and armed with 10 – 8 inch guns
13 August 1857 the men and guns were towed up river to Allahabad.
The Navy Brigade took part in the Battle of Lucknow, India.
27 April 1858 William Peel died of smallpox at Cawnpore.
01 May 1858 Command was taken over by Acting Captain Francis Marten, who took also the command over of the Indian Naval Brigade after Peel passed away.
15 January 1859 decommissioned at Portsmouth.
17 January 1862 recommissioned in Portsmouth under command of Capt. James Francis Ballard Wainwright, joined the Channel Squadron.
18 June 1862 command was taken over by Capt. Oliver John Jones first in the Mediterranean, from 1864 in the North America and West Indies stations.
31 May 1871 sold to Castle for breaking up in Charlton.
Canada 2010 57c sg?, scott?
Source http://www.pdavis.nl/ShowShip.php?id=94 The Sail & Steam Navy List by Lyon & Winfield.
Some more information on Mr. Hall in an article by Mr. Michael Posner.
From Saturday's Globe and Mail Published on Saturday, Jan. 30, 2010 12:00AM EST Last updated on Thursday, Feb. 04, 2010 3:01AM EST
It is probably not widely known that the first Canadian to win the coveted Victoria Cross - Britain's highest military award, given for valour in the face of the enemy - was the Nova Scotia son of former American slaves: William Neilson Edward Hall.
Hall won his decoration - the first ever given either to a Canadian, a black or a member of the Royal Navy - for bravery shown during the 1857 siege of Lucknow, in India.
Now, only a few months after the 150th anniversary of his award, Hall is being draped in several posthumous honours, modest compensation for the lack of recognition he was accorded during his life.
On Monday 01 January 2010 , Canada Post will release a new stamp that bears his image - a painting of Hall set against the water and HMS Shannon. A reception to celebrate the man and the stamp will be held Feb. 3, hosted by the Ontario Black History Society and Her Majesty's Canadian Ship York. And in various venues across the country, actor and playwright Anthony Sherwood is performing his 30-minute play, the William Hall Project, that will help kick off Black History Month.
Believed to have been born near Hantsport in 1829, Hall was the son of Jacob and Lucinda, black refugees from the War of 1812. He joined a merchant marine ship at 15, and the Royal Navy at 22.
Asked why he wanted to enlist, the young Hall told the recruiting office he wanted to pay a debt to the British, who had rescued his father from a slave ship.
Hall was initially attached to HMS Rodney as part of the Channel Fleet and later sailed to join British forces in the Crimean War of 1854, taking part in the siege of Sevastopol and the battle of Inkerman. Afterward, he was posted to the frigate HMS Shannon.
The story of Hall's heroics during the siege of Lucknow is extraordinary.
In 1857, Indians mutinied against the rule of Britain's East India Company. To help suppress the rebellion, HMS Shannon - Hall was its captain of the foretop - and HMS Pearl were dispatched to Calcutta. The brigade's guns were then towed by steamer to Allahabad, and carted overland to Lucknow. By November of that year, the naval brigade and the Seaforth and Sutherland Highlanders - 450 men, six 8-inch guns, two 24-pound howitzers and two field pieces - were parked on the outskirts of Lucknow.
British forces, and some 1,300 civilians, were trapped inside, in the fourth month of the siege by militants. British commander Sir Colin Campbell was eager to avoid a repeat of the massacre that had occurred earlier at Cawnpore. There, the colonial administration had surrendered in exchange for safe passage to Allahabad, but for reasons still in dispute, chaos ensued and dozens, including women and children, were hacked to death with cleavers and thrown down a well.
A major obstacle at Lucknow was the domed Shah Nujeef, a walled mosque close to the residency of British commissioner Sir Henry Lawrence. He'd decided to spare Muslim holy places, but the mosque was heavily fortified with rifles and cannons firing at the naval brigade. The latter was sustaining heavy losses when volunteers were solicited to move a naval gun next to the walls and blow it down.
William Hall was among those who volunteered. Each time it fired, however, it recoiled backward, forcing Hall and Lieutenant Thomas Young, who also was later decorated, to drag it again to the wall under direct fire. One by one, the British soldiers fell, until only Hall and a wounded Young remained. With musket balls raining down on them, and flying brick and stone shrapnel, Hall continued firing the remaining gun until the wall was breached and the 93rd Highlanders were able to pour through the hole. Sir Colin Campbell later called his action "almost unexampled in war."
Hall received his Victoria Cross (fewer than 1,400 have ever been awarded) on Oct. 28, 1859, aboard HMS Donegal in Queenstown, Ireland, and was later promoted to quartermaster and then petty officer, first class on HMS Peterel. He retired and was discharged in 1876, spurning a desk job at Whitehall to return to Nova Scotia. He died in 1904, unmarried, in Avonport.
His medals, including the Victoria Cross, the Indian Mutiny Medal, the Turkish Crimea Medal and the Crimea Medal - all of them depicted on the stamp - are on display at the Nova Scotia Museum.