New information in red regarding Hong Kong lighthouse ladies. IDJ: The script below comes from one of my aviation books related to the 1930s China Coast. It’s an interesting aside about the wives of lighthouse keepers:- “Chinese keepers of the lights had invariably been pirated so often for their large supplies of specially refined kerosene, the lighthouse service found it […]
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Stephen Davies: Credit must be given for the information below to a presentation given by Ma Koon You on Hong Kong dockyards at the HK Heritage Discovery Centre a couple of years back, and since supplemented by me. Capt George Underhill Sands (1824-1881) bought the old MacDonald Shipyard in Sai Wan (Western District, HK Island) after a complex history that […]
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IDJ has sent the following newspaper article on the reconstruction work being carried out by the Cheoy Lee Shipyard on the British river steamer, the Sai On. This was necessary as the following brief report details: “A few decades later, Hong Kong saw its most serious shipboard fire incident in the 20th century. In the evening of 4 February 1947, […]
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IDJ has kindly sent the following newspaper article, published in February 1950 which adds further information to what we have about the Cheoy Lee Shipyard. HF: I have retyped the article exactly as written. Thanks to SCT for proof reading the retyped article. HF: I would be grateful if anyone could send in images of the various vessels mentioned in […]
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HF: Photos taken 4th December 2014 by HF of the HKPC Lok On Pai Storage Facility. See: http://www.hkpetro.com.hk/about.php – the company website This article was first posted on 12th April 2015. Related Indhhk articles: Asiatic Petroleum Company, China – family connections Kawakami Oil Company in WW2 (AKA Socony-Vacuum Oil Company) Royal Dutch Shell Oil Company in Hong Kong Socony-Vacuum Oil […]
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Elizabeth Ride: Extracts from reports in the BAAG Intelligence Summaries. 1. Layout. [Map reference 223585: GSGS 3868 HK & New Territories 1/20,000] 2. During hostilities.“Superficial damage was caused by enemy bombing on the first day of the war. Dock gates were not damaged.” 3. During the Occupation. 1942. “The materials left in the Kowloon Docks are rapidly diminishing. There is […]
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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 […]
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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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Douglas Lapraik arrived in Hong Kong in 1842 in apparently somewhat straitened circumstances from Macau. Things changed for the colourful Mr Lapraik. In 1863, together with Thomas Sutherland and Jardine, Matheson & Co,. he co-founded the Hongkong and Whampoa Dock Company (Kowloon Docks) which at its peak was the largest shipyard in Asia. The following article has been extracted from […]
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HF: I was told many years ago that Hong Kong had the most ferry routes of any city in the world. And that Sydney was second and Seattle third. If that was true back in the 1980s it may not be so in 2014. During this period I have seen several routes vanish, including Jordan Road to Central, a wonderful […]
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