Hong Kong lighthouse construction, costs, delivery, dates, light visibility…
IDJ has sent this account of seven Hong Kong lighthouses concentrating on details of their construction, cost, delivery, dates of opening and light visibility.
They are:
Pratas Shoal (proposal shelved)
Waglan Island
A site NE of Lamma Island (proposal shelved)
Gap Rock
Cape D’Aguilar (Hok Tsui)
Green Island
Cape Collinson
Stephen Davies in his article, Lighthouses in HK pre-1941, linked below, mentions nine.
Double click the article to enlarge.
This article was first posted on 11th June 2015.
Source: Challenges for an Evolving City-160 Years of Port & Land Development in Hong Kong, Ho Pui Yin, The Commercial Press, 2004
Related Indhhk articles:
- Waglan Island Lighthouse, Fresnel Lenses – Barbier, Benard & Turenne – AGA
- Waglan Island Lighthouse – a brief history
- Waglan Island Lighthouse – inaugurated on 9th May, 1893
- Waglan Island Island , Frosty Moller – tug involved in evacuation of lighthouse staff, December 1941
- Hong Kong Lighthouses, and the men who manned them – HKBRAS article
- Lighthouses in Hong Kong pre-1941, images needed
There are some incorrect facts in IDJ’s citation. The budget for the lighthouses was approved by Legco on 5th March 1873. with the minutes approved on 9th April 1873. The establishment (cost of erection) of the three lighthouses exclusive of the light and apparatus is given as:
Cape d’Aguilar $15,000, Cape Collinson $450, and Green I. $2,500 – there were no HK$ at this time nor were there until the 1930s.
On 9th April, when the March minutes were approved, building of Cape D’Aguilar was underway because 4 months’ salary for the overseer of works was approved at $15 per month.
The cost differences are those in the level of manning (and therefore size of accommodation) and size of light structure as between a 1st order light (Cape d”Aguilar) the lens of which could weigh >6 tonnes and required 2 keepers and a team of four, a 4th order light (Green Is) the lens of which weighed around 0.2-0.3 tonne, with 1 keeper and 1 assistant and a 6th order light (Cape Collinson) the lens of which weighed c.0.03-0.1 tonne and needed just 2 hands to keep things together.