HF: Thomas Sposato has kindly sent information about possibly one of the most luxurious boats ever built in Hong Kong – the 65-foot Carolyn Quincy. Thomas is the son of one of the boat’s previous owners. It was custom built in 1963 by American Marine Ltd boatyard at Junk Bay, which was run by Robert J Newton and his sons John and Whit. Father […]
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The China Navigation Company’s parent company, John Swire & Sons Limited, had its origins in a small Liverpool trading house founded in 1816. In 1866, John Samuel Swire (1825-1898) opened his first Far Eastern agency in Shanghai, and in 1872 he founded The China Navigation Company to operate a modest fleet of paddle steamers on China’s Yangtze River. IDJ has […]
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HF: In 1951, China requisitioned all property belonging to the Asiatic Petroleum Company in retaliation for the Hong Kong Government’s requisitioning of the tanker Yung Hao. Further information comes from this account in the book, Via Ports: From Hong Kong to Hong Kong, Alexander Grantham, Governor of Hong Kong from 1947 to 1957. This image is of the Yung Hao in later life as the […]
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Stephen Davies: The water colour posted in the article, Leung Man Kwong (梁文廣) – clearance of HK harbour post WW2 and founder of Universal Dockyards, is fascinating. Given the angle of the photo, with what looks like the naval dockyard on the left and the HK Club area on the right, I think it is the unnamed freighter, sunk on naval anchorage […]
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ER has sent this BAAG report. It is the only information we have about this smaller shipyard. Any further information would be very useful. The report mentions “other yards and engineering works who receive orders from To Nam Shipyard include, Far East Motors, Luk Ho Kan, Ngai Sang, Tai Hing, Cho Wing.” KWIZ #74, 10.11.44. Further information: For general information about […]
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Elizabeth Ride has sent this single report about the Rikukawa Sono Engineering Works which was part of a 1944 BAAG report on Commerce and Trade in Hong Kong during the Japanese occupation, World War Two. KWIZ #76, 24.11.44.
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HF: The first Query and Answers, Kwok Acheong + P&O connection, linked below, sought further information about his taking over the ‘shipwright and engineering department’ from the P&O Steamship Company in 1854 in Hong Kong and says I can find nothing about this particular subject: where was the Dept, what particularly did it do and what happened to it post Kwok Acheong? Can anyone provide some […]
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Stephen Davies and Hugh Farmer have collaborated in researching the life of George U Sands (1824-1881). In particular his time as the captain of a steamship in China and his later involvement in three Hong Kong companies. Stephen’s contributions are indicated, all others are from HF. Any information about Mr Sands during his time in both China and Hong Kong and […]
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Elizabeth Ride has British Army Aid Group (BAAG) records of shipping movements for 1944-45 in Hong Kong during the Japanese occupation in World War Two. These provide information not only about the ships themselves but what cargo was being brought into and out of Hong Kong during the latter stages of WW2, passengers carried, and of godowns, docks etc that were […]
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HF: Peter Cundall has been researching British Army Aid Group (BAAG) reports from World War Two and compiling a list of ships which were noted as being in Hong Kong during the Japanese Occupation. Peter has been carrying out this research for many months and below you will find his finished lists linked in both PDF and Excel format. I […]
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