18.
REVIEW
15 Europeans, among them the Anglican Bishop, Dr Hoare, who apparently lost his life while attempting to save some trainees on board his mission vessel.
During the first 60 years of the port's existence-from 1841 to 1901-the number of foreign-going ships excluding junks which entered the harbour rose from 381 to 5,403 annually; the average size of vessel increased from 350 tons to 1,350 tons. And while in 1842 the percentage of British tonnage to total tonnage was 87 per cent, this figure had decreased to 57 per cent by 1901.
At a meeting of the Legislative Council in 1901 Commander Robert Murray Rumsey, who had been appointed harbour master in 1888, raised the question of a bridge across the harbour. The following year Rumsey elaborated on his proposal in his annual report and expressed the opinion that a bridge should not cause any inconvenience to shipping using the harbour. The proposed bridge was to be built with either a swinging or lifting central span, the average height between high water and the underside of the bridge being approximately 40 feet. The island end of the bridge was to be sited at Pottinger Street and the mainland end at Robertson Road, later renamed Nathan Road. To justify con- struction of the bridge Rumsey mentioned that six million persons crossed the harbour each year. The proposal was not, however, pursued.
From the early nineteenth century mariners had occasionally visited the Colony to water their ships and the first firm to supply fresh water to ships in the harbour were Messrs Lane, Crawford Limited, who sold this part of their business to the Union Waterboat Company Limited in 1905. Union Waterboat are still operating and supply most of the fresh water bought by ships calling at Hong Kong.
The managers of the Blue Funnel Line, Messrs Alfred Holt and Company, decided in 1905 to purchase the land below Signal Hill, Kowloon, in order to build piers, wharves and godowns to secure their position in the China trade. The first wharf they built was on the eastern side of Holt's property and was of steel pile con- struction with a length of 470 feet; vessels of the Blue Funnel Line are still using it today. At the end of the First World War