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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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: The Tien Chu (H.K.) Company Ltd. was founded by Wu Yunchu (1891-1953). Wu was a chemist and industrialist and known as the “Father of Monosodium Glutamate”. He was involved in the chemical and condiment industries in China especially I believe in Shanghai in the 1930s. York Lo says Wu Yunchu actually went by the name of “P. N. Woo” (probably due […]
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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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HF. While walking in the Kwun Tong area on 23rd January 2016 I came across this delightfully old-fashioned looking outlet for the Sam Tak Uniform Company. It’s located at 307 Kwun Tong Road which is actually in Ngau Tau Kok. The main window reminded me of shops I used to see in the UK in the 1950s and 60s frequently […]
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Added information in red On 10th December 2012 the SCMP reported on the almost complete demolition of the Eastern Cotton Mills situated in Mok Cheong Street, Ma Tau Wai, Kowloon. The article reports on the comments of a representative of the Conservancy Association and the, now lost, possibility of “development-cum-conservation” at the site. York Lo: The Mill was set up […]
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Edward Schneider, Carl Ingenohl’s great-grandson, has sent these two pricelists and an undated but considerably later photograph of Orient Tobacco Manufactory’s outlet in Hong Kong. Carl Ingenohl was the owner of the company and further information about both man, company and Hong Kong factory can be found in several articles linked below. If you can add anything about the OTC […]
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Joseph Tse, our unofficial Hong Kong Tram correspondent has written an article for the HK Tramways website about the recent launching, in January 2016, of a 1920s style open top sightseeing tram. Car 30 was used as the basis for the rebuilt tram. The new car number 68, pronounced ‘luk fat‘ in Cantonese which translates as ‘continue making money‘, has re-chromed […]
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Robin Selby has been in contact about his great-uncle Thomas Selby (1866-1937). Robin says, Thomas had a full life and was at one time mate of the Cutty Sark, captain of another ship, went on to work for the The Indo-China Steam Navigation Company Ltd (ICSNC) which had been established in 1873 as a subsidiary of Hong Kong based Jardine, Matheson […]
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HF: The SCMP had an interesting article about the closing of a company which was founded in 1948: “Cans of printing ink line the teak shelves of the Nam Wah Company shop, which has been supplying local and mainland printers since before the second world war. But its long history comes to a full stop tomorrow [6th March 2014] when […]
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