1101.
That concludes the report, which I have quoted from Mr. Ford's account practically verbatim. In a few final paragraphs he mentioned the enclosure of six photographs (which unfortunately are not to hand) showing the ice at various places in the Peak district. These included a photo of an ornamental structure in Mr. Bililios' garden at "The Eyrie", encased with thick ice; and ice-covered bamboos and wire netting near the former Mount Austin Hotel (now Mount Austin barracks). The appendices to the report give long lists of the Latin names of plants affected, which will be of little interest to the general reader.
Hongkong has never had another experience of that nature: but a repetition is always possible!
In the course of looking up weather records in the Colony's history one finds, besides the big frost just dealt with, a series of severe typhoons. We take it for granted nowadays that our adequate warnings, especially since the introduction of wireless, will prevent a recurrence of such disasters as were experienced many years ago, and even as recently as 1906 and 1908; but it seems that we have, as a matter of fact, merely escaped the real centre of the typhoons which have threatened us within the past twenty-five years, the big "blow" of 1923 being the nearest recent approach to the full force of such a storm.
A few of the biggest typhoons of Hongkong's earlier years might be considered here. The first of these struck the Colony a few months after it had been founded. It came in the night of July 21, lasting through part of July 22, 1841, doing considerable damage. One old chronicle records that ashore and afloat the scene was one of almost universal wreckage. "The overcrowded and badly-built hospitals were all levelled to the ground, many houses, booths and shanties were shattered, and their fragments whirled through the air." Practically all the houses were unroofed, six foreign ships were a total loss, four were driven ashore, and twenty-two were dismasted or otherwise seriously damaged. The loss of life among the Chinese boat people was enormous. Everything was done to repair the damage, the sick being accommodated temporarily on ships which had survived, and the residents were actually in the midst of rebuilding various structures, when the typhoon recurved, and during the night of July 25-26 again struck the Colony, though apparently not so severely! The great lesson learned was the need for substantial houses and godowns, hence the very strong structures that went up thereafter, some of which, such as Jardine's property at East Point, still stand to-day, almost as strong as when erected.
It is interesting to note that the first Administrator out here, Captain Charles Elliot, R.N. (together with Commodore Bremer, R.N., who had proclaimed British suzerainty here) was shipwrecked in this typhoon, and was rescued from one of the outlying islands, after a narrow escape from capture by pirates. They were travelling in the Naval cutter Louise at the time, from Macao to Hongkong.
The most extraordinary feature about this storm, however, was its effect upon the Chinese officials on the mainland. The news was greatly exaggerated in the course of its transmission to the Imperial court, and the despatch sent by the Viceroy at Canton to the Emperor stated that innumerable foreign ships had been dashed to pieces, innumerable foreign soldiers and Chinese "traitors" had been swept into the sea, all the structures and barracks had been utterly destroyed, and the harbour was covered with corpses. On learning this, the Emperor set forth in a procession to the temple of the dragon god of the seas, at Peking, where he solemnly gave thanks for the destruction of Hongkong: he also issued an edict which was received with rejoicing all over the Chinese Empire, proclaiming that heavenly judgment had fallen on the Colony.
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