HF: The 1909 Directory & Chronicle for China, Japan, Corea, Indo-China…etc, lists AE Griffin as a “Temporary Civil Engineering and Constructional Staff member at the Taikoo Dockyard & Engineering Comapny of Hongkong Ltd.” Griffin is the first listed of 26 such staff and therefore was probably the most senior. Indeed the paragraph before the concluding one in the following paper […]
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Mary Anne Le Bas has sent an SCMP article, Six home-grown Hong Kong trades at risk of dying out, published on 21st June 2015. The second of these is about a Sai Kung town resident who makes and sells about 800 boxes of traditional Hakka food daily. The article begins: Hui Sai-ling makes Hakka snacks at her home in Sai Kung […]
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Stephen Davies says the basic story of ICSN is best located in the book, Beancaker to boxboat. Jardine operated ships using the Jardine Matheson house flag from pretty early on – the earliest I think I have dated seems to be from the late 1820s. From that date ships came and went, but nothing that really feels like a JM shipping line […]
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HF: The SCMP of 18th April 2016 contained an article about damage caused to the explosives storeroom at the Ma On Shan mine complex by workers from the Lands Department who mistakenly thought it was to be demolished. The article begins: The government last week almost flattened a house in a remote village proposed for grading as a historic building, in […]
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Lawrence Tsui: The dockyards that I remember reading in the BAAG papers were the Naval Dockyard, Kowloon Dockyard, Taikoo Dockyard as well as other smaller ones, the names of which I need to research my notes to identify. There were also ship repair yards mentioned in intelligence reports. These were intelligence intended to help Allied Aerial Bombings in the later half […]
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Nikki Veriga sent us information about her grandfather James Thirlwell who was a Master Mariner and captained the tug “Tai Koo” on her final voyage. There were actually three Tai Koo Shipyard tugs and the one Nikki’s grandfather was captain of was number 2. Many thanks to IDJ for sending the image of a belching Tai Koo Tug 2 shown above. […]
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HF: “In 1910 Ernest James and Walter Reginald Hume (Hume Brothers) established the Humes’ Patent Cementiron Syndicate Limited, which later became Hume Brothers Cement Iron Company Limited. Hume Brothers Cement Iron Company Limited operated factories in Adelaide, Melbourne, Hobart and abroad, manufacturing centrifugally-spun reinforced concrete pipes by methods patented by Hume Brothers. Eventually Hume Brothers Cement Iron Company Limited became the […]
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Stephen Davies has been researching the period in the early 1900s during which Thomas Selby was master of several ships of the Indo-China Steam Navigation Company. He believes Selby worked for ICSNC from early 1901 through to sometime in 1906. The Tungshing (a.k.a. Tung Shing and Tongshing) is the vessel that is mostly clearly attached to Thomas Selby’s name. He seems to […]
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Martin Williams wrote the article, Why Hong Kong shouldn’t take clean water for granted, which appeared in the Sunday Morning Post magazine on 24th April 2016. Martin had contacted our group while writing the article seeking information and post publication has kindly given permission to post extracts, a couple of his photos and to link the article. As has the Post’s […]
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Hugh Farmer: While researching Tai Po Kau KCR station, which no longer exists, I came across this film. It’s great fun but does it show TPK station and was it part of a longer film? Any ideas anyone? Click here to watch the mini drama. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwSG0IKBqmc This article was first published on 8th February 2014. See: For more information about […]
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