George Fowler King-Hall

George King-Hall, commanding HMS Melita, was the naval officer sent to carry the bull's-head capital from Salamis to the British Museum in 1891. The capital had been found in the Cyprus Exploration Fund's 1890 season and allocated to the Fund. The Fund was almost out of money, so J. A. R. Munro asked that it be given to the Museum, which as government property could ask the Admiralty for a naval vessel at the Trustees' expense¹.

King-Hall reached Famagusta on 19 January 1891 and visited Salamis the next day. He judged that a sledge on greased ways over the 5.5-mile road was the cheapest method, and put the weight at 3.5 to 4 tons, not the two tons the Museum had stated. On 21 January he went to Nicosia and obtained the sanction of Sir Henry Bulwer. Between 26 January and 3 February the capital was dragged out, sledged and raised under sheers on the Famagusta pier, and on 4 February it went by coasting vessel to the Melita. The work took eight and a half working days, with 20 to 40 local labourers and 8 to 15 sailors; Lieutenant Henderson supervised ashore, and the seaman Joseph Martin broke an arm and a leg. The Melita carried the capital to Alexandria, where it was transferred to HMS Amphion on 10 February, and King-Hall signed his report at Port Said on 13 February¹.

Thomas Kiely notes that the report records costs minutely, £57 10s 11d to the Museum by King-Hall's account and £67 10s 11d with extra crew pay and compensation¹. The capital went on by way of Malta to Sheerness, where it arrived on 28 March¹.