Page:Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and other Treaty Ports of China.djvu/196

 

Harbour Master.

ONGKONG Harbour, now recognised as one of the finest in the world, and actually accommodating more shipping than any other, was, prior to the British occupation, of no account, and but little used except by Chinese fishermen (and pirates) and an occasional war junk. Its capabilities as a desirable anchorage do not appear to have received practical recognition until 1834, when Lord Napier, appreciating its strategical and commercial possibilities, recommended its acquisition by the British Government. At that time a considerable amount of trade was carried on in British vessels with Canton and Whampoa, and a certain number of British merchants were resident in the former city. Circumstances, into which it is not necessary here to enter, caused the British community in Canton to lose the goodwill of the Chinese authorities, with the result that they were expelled from the city and British shipping from the river. The former, with the Chief Commissioner of British Trade in China—Captain Elliot, R.N.—took refuge at Macao, then, as now, a Portuguese settlement, while the shipping anchored in Hongkong Harbour. This occurred in 1839.

Captain Elliot appears to have held but a poor opinion of the value of Hongkong as a dependency of the British Crown, or of the safety of the harbour, for he recommended the purchase from Portugal of Macao in preference to it. However, nothing came of his proposals, fortunately for British trade in the Far East, for Macao could not accommodate a fraction of the shipping now using Hongkong Harbour, even were there water enough to allow a modern ocean vessel to enter; Macao Harbour is small, and no vessel drawing more than 14 feet can enter at any state of the tide.

In August, 1839, the Canton authorities, emboldened no doubt by the successful issue of their anti-British action in March, threatened to carry the matter still further, and to make an attack in force upon Macao, with a view to the expulsion thence of the British. As it was felt that, being virtually undefended, Macao was in no condition to repulse such an attack, and that Portugal, not being a party to the quarrel, it was not right or politic to involve her, the British community headed by Captain Elliot and his staff, left Macao for Hongkong, leaving behind only a few sick.

On arrival it was found that no food was obtainable, a boycott being maintained by three war junks anchored off the Kowloon Peninsula; and it was reported that all sources of water supply were poisoned. The natives, however, being perfectly willing, even anxious, to furnish supplies, the war junks were attacked and driven away, and the boycott put a stop to.

As there were no buildings of any kind on the north shores of the island, residence on shore was at first out of the question, and the shipping in the harbour afforded an asylum for the whole community. A few buildings shortly appeared, principally of the matshed type, but nothing of a permanent character was attempted, in view of the great uncertainty prevailing as to the future of the island.

Shortly after this, the activity on the part of the Chinese having abated, the Commissioner and staff, together with many of the merchants with their families returned to Macao, whence Captain Elliot continued his opposition to the harbour of Hongkong, and in October, 1839, in spite of vigorous protests from eighty-six British vessels then anchored there, and the representatives of twenty mercantile firms, eleven insurance companies, and Lloyds agent, he ordered all the shipping to leave and to repair to Tongku, an island off the entrance to Deep Bay, in the mouth of the Canton River. And Hongkong was evacuated.

The following year, 1840, an expeditionary force arrived from home and Hongkong was once more occupied, this time for good, though it did not become a British possession, even nominally, until 1841, and not actually a British Colony before 1843.

As we have seen, the shipping interest was quick to realise the value and importance of the harbour, though the authorities held different views. However, in January, 1841, Lieutenant William Pedder R.N., was appointed Harbour Master and Marine Magistrate. This officer had many difficulties to contend with at first. His authority was very limited and his staff of the smallest, and he appears to have been dependent, for transport purposes, upon native boats, captured from the Chinese.

Harbour Office.—His office was, originally, as were all Government offices, on board a ship in the harbour. I consider it very probable, though there are no records to show it, that a temporary harbour office was erected on shore very early in the history of the Colony; certainly there are indications that there was such a building in 1841, but its nature and site are unknown. In 1843 it appears that a room in Mr. Pedder's house, built at his own expense on the hill named after him, was used as a harbour office. Later, about 1845, a brick building was erected on the site of the present City Hall, and this was occupied by the harbour department until 1866. In that year a permanent building of brick and stone, erected upon reclaimed ground some 1,400 yards to the westward of the old office, was opened. This collapsed in 1873, and the staff of the office took up their quarters in a temporary wooden erection close to the Sailors' Home, another 1,300 yards west, until the office was rebuilt and re-occupied in 1874. There the work