11
HONGKONG.
REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF THE OBSERVATORY, FOR THE YEAR 1901.
18 No. 1902
Laid before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency
the Officer Administering the Government.
HONGKONG OBSERVATORY,
31st January, 1902.
SIR, I have the honour to submit my annual report for 1901 to His Excellency the Officer Administering the Government. My seventeenth volume of observations was published last autumn, and the eighteenth volume is now being printed. It contains the usual astronomical, meteorological and magnetic observations.
2. The comparison of Mr. FIGG's weather forecasts, issued daily about 11 a.m., with the weather subsequently experienced has been conducted on the same system as heretofore (compare Annual Report for 1896 §5). We have:
Success 59, partial success 34 %, partial failure 6°. failure 1%-
Following the method used in meteorological offices and taking the sum of total and partial success as a measure of success, and the sum of total and partial failure as a measure of failure, we find, finally, that 93 % of the weather forecasts were a success.
3. The China Coast Meteorological Register was printed every morning at the Observatory, and information regarding storms was telegraphed by Mr. FIGG and exhibited on notice-boards as often and as fully as such information could be justified by the weather telegrams received. This happened on 93 days in 1901. The Red Drum was hoisted once, the Red South Cone once, and the Black South Cone once. The Typhoon Gun was not fired during the year.
4. Telegraphic connection with Victoria was interrupted as follows :-January 18th, 7 a. to 10.30 a.; February 11th, 7 a. to 9.30 a.; February 16th, 4 p. to 17th, 10.20 a.; 17th, 1 p. to 18th, 8.30 a. ; 28th, 7.45 a. to 1.16 p.; March 3rd, 2.30 p. to 4th, 7 a ; 4th, 8.30 a. to 10.20 a.; April 6th, 6.3 p. to 8th, 12.35 p.; May 8th, 1 p. to 4.36 p. ; 20th, 3.18 p. to 5.15 p.; June 8th, 5.50 p. to 9th, $.50 a. ; 20th, 12.5 p. to 3.17 p.; August 4th, 8.10 a. to 12.35 p.; 5th, 7 a. to 9.40 a.; September 30th, 5 p. to 10 p.; October 1st, 7.54 a. to 10.54 a.; November 12th, 7.25 to 10 p.; 17th, 9 a. to 12.38 P.; December 3rd, 8 a. to 1 p.; 3rd, 4.20 p. to 5.55 p.; 5th, 9.10 a. to 7th, 3.30 p.; 11th, 4.35 p. to 7.10 p. ; 20th, 8.12 a. to 9.20 a.; 29th, 8 a. to 30th, 10.30 a. Interruptions occurred, therefore, on 30 days, and of course, also, during thunderstorms.
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5. During 1901 in addition to meteorological registers kept at about 40 stations on shore, 2,007 ship-logs have been copied on board or forwarded by the captains. The total number of vessels, whose log-books have been made use of by Miss DOBERCK, was 245. The total number of days' observa- tions (counting separately those made on board different ships on the same day) was 15,731.
6. The following is a list of ships, from which logs have been obtained in 1901. The majority are steamships, and the others are distinguished as follows:-bk.. barque; sh., ship; bqt., barquen- tine:-Adria, Airlie, Albion (H.M.S.), Alcinous, Alexander (U.S.S.), Alexandria, Amara, Ainiral Charner (French man-of-war). Andalusia, Anna, Anping Maru, Antenor, Antonio Macleod, Ariake. Maru, Argonaut (H.M.S.), Arratoon Apcar, Australian, A wa Maru, Ballaarat, Banca, Bengal, Ben- larig, Bingo Maru, Bisagno, Bombay, Bormida, Braemar, Brand, Brandenburg (S.M.S.), Brooklyn (U.S.S.), Burnside (U.S. Cable ship), Calchas, Canning, Canton, Catherine Apcar, Carinthia, Carlisle City, Cebu, Ceylon, Changsha, Chelydra, Chihli, Chingkiang, Ching Wo. Chi Yuen, Choysang, Chunsang, Cimbria, City of Bombay, Commerce (sch.), Coptic, Coromandel, Daijin Maru, Decima, Diamante, Dido (H.M.S.), Doric, Eastern, Elcano, Empress of China, Empress of India, Empress of Japan, Esang, Fausang, Flandria, Formosa, François Arago, Freiburg, Fushun, Gaelic, Geier (S.M.S.), Glenfalloch, Glenfarg, Glengarry, Goliath (H.M.S.), Guichen (French man-of-war), Guthrie, Hailan, Hailoong, Hainan, Haitan, Hamburg, Hansa (S.M.S.), Hertha (S. M.S.), H. H. Meier, Hikosan Maru, Hinsang, Hiroshima Maru, Hongkong, Hongkong Maru, Hopsang, Hsieh 1o, Hunan, Idzumi Maru, India, Indrapura. Indravelli, Indus. Irene (S.M S ), Iris (bqt.), Jaguar (S.M.S.), Japan, Java, Ka- chidate Maru, Kagoshima Maru, Kaifong, Kaiserin Augusta (SM.S.), Kamakura Maru, Kanagawa Maru, Kashing, Kasuga Maru, Kawachi, Koongwai, Kentucky (U.S.S.), Kintuck, Kiukiang, Kinshiu Maru, Knight Companion, Kumano Mara, Kumsang, Kutsang, Kurfürst Friederich Wilhelm (S.M.S.), Kwanglee, Kyoto Maru. König Albert, Laisang, Leopard (S.M.S.), Loksang, Loongsang, Loosok, Loyal, L. Schepp (sh.), Lucia. Lyeemoon, Macedonia, Machew, Madagascar (bk.), Maréchal de Vil- lars (bk), Maria Teresa, Maria Valeria, Marquis Bacquehen, Massilia, Mausang, Mazagon, Miike Maru, Monterey U S.S.), Moyune, München, Nanchang, Nankin, Natal, Neptune, Ness, Nereus (sh.), Nippon Maru, Nivelle (sh.), Nuentung, Nurani, Obi, Olympia, Onsang, Orlando (H.M.S.), Oro, Pakhi, Pakshan, Palawan. Parramatta, Patroclus, Pax, Pekin, Penarth, Peninsular, Pennsylvania (U.S.T.), Perla, Peru, Petrarch, Phra Chom Klao, Phoenix (H.M.S.), Pompey (U.S.S.), Prima, Princeton (U.S.S.), Prinzess Irene, Prinz Heinrich, Progress, Prudentia, Quarta, Radnorshire, Raja-