Tang Lung Chau Lighthouse
Tang Lung lighthouse 1990s Courtesy: AMO
HF: Kenneth Wong, in February 2024, contacted the website and sent this (initial information) about his grandfather Tse Sam. ”He first joined the Harbour Master’s Department (as it was then) in 1925. He worked at the Green Island Lighthouse and moved to Tang Lung Chau lighthouse in 1931.” Kenneth has sent more detailed information about his grandfather’s life and work which will be posted in a short while.
“Situated on Tang Lung Chau (originally known as Kap Sing Island), a small island to the west of Hong Kong and south of Ma Wan in Kap Shui Mun, Tang Lung Chau Lighthouse is one of the few surviving pre-war lighthouses in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong owes its prosperity to trade, and its harbour was a regular port of call for ships even before 1841. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 gave a further impetus to economic growth, and the government and the business community recognised the need for lighting to be provided along the coasts to warn and guide ships at sea.
Commonly known as Kap Sing Lighthouse, Tang Lung Chau Lighthouse came into service in 1912. Standing 11.8 metres tall, it is a skeletal steel tower with a white lantern on top, both of which were obtained from England. The adjoining brick keeper’s house has a bedroom, kitchen, toilet and storeroom. With no fresh water supply on the island, rainwater was collected from the roof and diverted into an underground tank.
Tang Lung Chau Lighthouse has served thousands of vessels approaching Hong Kong from the west since the early 20th century.
Managed by the Marine Department, the lighthouse is now automated and unmanned.” (1)
Tang Lung Chau with Tsing Ma bridge in the background. Courtesy: AMO
This article was first posted on 7th February 2017.
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I served in the HK Marine Police with the son of a keeper of Tang Lung Chau light. He often spoke of an idyllic life there in the 1960s, catching fish for supper, tending a vegetable patch, and being rowed daily to school on Ma Wan Island, He also told a story of a hoard of gold , apparently looted by the Japanese, being found hidden on the island following liberation.
My grandfather was the lighthouse keeper of Tang Lung Chau before and after the Second World War.