Although it was not officially commissioned as a Royal Navy warship, the Admiralty enabled Hall to count his time in the Nemesis as if he had served in one of Her Majesty's Ships.

[1][2] He joined the Royal Navy on 24 October 1811 as a first-class volunteer on board HMS Warrior under Captains George Byng and John Tremayne Rodd.

After returning to England in November 1817, he was appointed to the frigate, HMS Iphigenia, under Captain Robert Mends in the West Africa Squadron.

After studying steam engines in Glasgow, Scotland, and on board steamers trading to Ireland, he travelled to the United States, where he was employed in steamboats on the Delaware and Hudson.

[4][5] 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 (1839–42).

[4][5] 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).

[12] After the outbreak of the Crimean War (1853–56) against Russia, Hall was not able to obtain command of a vessel corresponding to his seniority, so on 15 March 1854 he accepted the 6-gun paddle steamer, HMS Hecla, which was engaged in the Baltic and was again Mentioned in Despatches, and slightly wounded.

His writings involved developing national defences, and employing boatmen, fishermen, and armed merchant steamers as part of the naval reserve.