Cosmopolitan Dock was completed on 23rd October and demolished around 31st December 1972. (1) Stephen Davies sent the following information in July 2015: All I know of the dock’s early years are from newspaper stories in the HK Daily Press, etc. and what’s in Austin Coates’ Ships on the shore. There are lots of stories (more than I have time […]
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Elizabeth Ride has sent BAAG Report KWIZ #74, dated 10th November 1944, and noted earlier: After KWIZ #4, the Naval section is not included in the AWM papers, and does not appear again until KWIZ #66, and then in a slightly different format. HF: I am afraid because of time constraints I am no longer able to summarize and list […]
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1930 Additional information and an image sent by Peter Crush in July 2020, highlighted in blue. Unless otherwise stated all the information below comes from an in-house company publication, The Hongkong & Yaumati Ferry Co Ltd: Golden Jubilee 1923-1973, published in 1973. 1923 The company was incorporated on the 5th November. The Promoters of the company were Messrs. Lau Tak Po, […]
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Stephen Davies: The interesting thing about Cosmopolitan Dock – unique in HK and quite uncommon elsewhere – is that it was designed from the outset as two docks in one; an inner and an outer. The dock had a fat, slightly shorter outer part (212 x 100 feet) and a slightly narrower, slightly longer inner part (234 x 83 feet – […]
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HF: It was never mined here. So this article is an initial attempt to put together what little we have about importing coal and how it was used in Hong Kong: transport, manufacturing, utilities, shipping, domestically…can you add to this article? I have also included charcoal and for general interest information about and images of China and Taiwan/Formosa on these […]
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York Lo: Kwong Sang Engineering (廣生機器廠) Left: Kwong Sang Engineering founder Ng Kai-lau (HK Pun U District Association, 1955); Right: Family of Kwong Sang founder Ng Kai-lau welcoming his fifth son Chung-yau (triangle) back from studies in the US in 1961. (KSDN, 1961-7-7) Kwong Sang Engineering was one of the oldest and largest manufacturers of ship machinery in Hong Kong […]
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On August 4, 1947, the 10,471 ton Tien Loong was the first steamship owned, managed, financed and crewed by Chinese, to sail from Shanghai to France. And was thus the first such vessel to sail in the Atlantic Ocean. She arrived in Le Havre, France on October 28. Chinese Maritime Trust (a sister company of Island Navigation Corp.) had signed […]
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IDJ remembers seeing log sawing by hand particularly in shipyards building wooden junks and sampans but also on construction sites. Many had two or four men pushing and pulling from above and below. They could tear through a log surprisingly accurately and quickly. The frame’s sidebars were used to guide the saw blade in a straight line and achieve the right […]
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Louis Ha and Dan Waters have kindly both given permission to post their article published in the HKBRAS Journal, Volume 41, 2001. This contains a great deal of information. In particular details about these Hong Kong lighthouses: Green Island Cape Collinson Waglan Tang Lung Chau On life at the lighthouses: Climatic conditions Water Supply Manpower Defence Communications Creature comforts and […]
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Elizabeth Ride: Extracts from reports in the BAAG Intelligence Summaries. Layout [Map reference 192583: GSGS 3868 1/20,000 HK&NT]. Sketch not found, but this Japanese map of the harbour and facilities may contain some information to readers of Japanese. 2. During the Occupation. “According to one source, many of the ships salvaged by the Japanese were taken to this dockyard for repair.” 1943 […]
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