Hospital.
However, the one at Wanchai had developed into a definite Seamen's Hospital, though of a private nature.
It was entirely rebuilt by Jardine, Matheson & Co. who had taken it over in the early Sixties, at a cost of $30,000, and was reopened in May, 1866; but it is recorded that the place was carried on at a loss, and was closed in March, 1873. A few months later it was sold to the Admiralty, and this is where the naval records come in.
In the Commodore's files, there are various references to the subject of hospital accommodation for the Navy, and we are able to trace the gradual acquisition of a place on shore, and the subsequent development of the Royal Naval Hospital. Prior to that, the Naval depended largely on hospital ships moored in the harbour, though use was also made of the combined military and naval hospital established in the early Forties on a site where Wellington Barracks are now located.
We find that the first application by the Navy for a hospital of its own on shore at Hongkong was made in February, 1856. Evidently for some years, however, the Navy's needs for hospital accommodation were not satisfied, and the hulks had still to be used. It is interesting to find, in a letter dated September 17, 1865, that a site for a Naval Hospital had been reserved at Kowloon, although the Admiralty had no intention at the time of erecting one.
Gradually, the hospital ships were disposed of, the first being to the Army. A letter from the "Princess Charlotte" at Hongkong, on October 30, 1868, signed by the famous Henry Keppel, Vice-Admiral and Commander-in-Chief, addressed to Commodore O.J. Jones, states:
"In reply to your letter No.83 of this day's date, I am of the opinion that on the military authorities taking charge of the "Meeanee", all naval charge and control on that vessel should cease.
Later on, in the Eighties, we find another reference to this vessel, still in military hands. It is a letter dated from the Military Secretary's Office, December 8, 1884, addressed to the Secretary to the Commodore:
"Sir, As the Major General Commanding is causing the orders of the shipkeepers on board the hospital ship "Meeanee" to be revised, and also wishes a system of signals to be established in case of any accidents or unusual occurrences rendering assistance on board necessary, I am directed to forward a draft copy of the proposed instructions and to request that the same may be laid before the Commodore for any observations you may wish to make on the subject."
This is followed by the description of a flag signal by day and a light signal by night.
Early in the Seventies the naval authorities definitely decided to get a hospital on shore. There is a reference on July 4, 1872, to a proposal to purchase buildings at Stonecutters Island for the use of the Navy as a hospital, but this was not carried out. It is shown that in 1863 a Civil Hospital, for the use also of the Navy, had been established at Yokohama, and other hospitals in Japan were in use before that year;
but obviously the Navy needed a permanent shore establishment in this Colony.