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COMMANDER BECKWITH, RN A REVIEW OF HIS WORK AS HARBOUR MASTER.
The departure for Home on Saturday next by the s.. Vorra of Commander C. W. Beckwith, R.N., Harbour Master and Marine Magistrate for the Port of Hong koug for several years, is a source of regret to a large circle of friends in the Colony. His retirement from Government service is premature owing to a serious breakdown in bealth, and his friends in cerely trust that the change of climate will do much to restore him to his usual bealth and strength.
Commander Beckwith is a Manxman by birth. He was born in the year 1870, in Douglas, Isle of Man, where his father was a well-known barrister. He joined the Royal Navy in 1995 and served on the China Station as Navigating Officer on the .M.S. Dindem, the flagship of Ad- After the miral Sir Gerald Noel, KC. B. big typhoon of 1906, which caused the death of the Harbour Master of Hong! kong. Captain Barnes Lawrence, the then flovernor of Hongkong. Sir Matthew Satban, asked for Conimander Beckwith's services as a practical officer who could take charge of a dificult situation and bring the Port back into working order. after the exceedingly, severe losses and damage it had sustained. Commander Beckwith's services were accordingly lent by the Navy, and he became acting Har bour Master of Hongkong. The period which folowed was full of anxiety, 5,000 lives had been lost, practically all the Fighters in the Harbour had gone, making the handling of cargo very inconvenient; there were ships to be raised all over the Harbour and beyond, even as far out as The Brothers and Pillar Point: in short, the Purt was in a state of chaos.
Commander Beckwith still had grateful memories of the excellent spirit shown during that time of stress by shipping people, masters of vessels, and Harbour officials. By dint of strenuous efforts over a period of three months, order was even- tually restored.
Commander Basil Taylour, who held the appointment of Assistant Harbour:Master of Hongkong at the time, and who was appointed Harbour Master while at home, returned from leave in the following March and Commander Beckwith became Assistant Harbour Master, continuing to hold that appointment for 14 years the Jongest time on record in the history of the Department. During the period he acted as Harbour Master for n period which totalled nearly nine years,
The side of the work connected with the A branch of activity to Commander Marine Magistrate's Court was, of course, Beckwith, but by study and with the help of marked qualities of commonsense and shrewdness, Commander Beckwith, has presided over the Court with fairness. competence and dignity, and has had the satisfaction of noting the promulgation by the Board of Trade of some of his findings to all British ports in the world.
relaid and classified the buoys to suit the requirements of the various parts of the Harbour. In subsequent years the "num ber of buoys was considerably increased, the 36 buoys now forming the commercial buayage of Hongkong constitutes prob- ably the most efficient and certainly the cheapest in the world.
a high Most efficient may seem claim," remarked Commander Beckwith, it, candidly, I do not know a Harbour in the world where buoys are laid to stand the atrain that these buoys do in the typhoon season, which I think was proved in the August 18th typhoon when the Empress of Australia rode out "the tor- rig storm at A3 buoy, without moving it a yard. It is the ship's chain, not the moorings, that goes as a rule, in this Harbour. Steps are now being taken to fit a number of buoys with heavy extra typhoon moorings so as to increase the umber of safe moorings for all classes of vessels and it is hoped that these will be ready for next typhoon sĉasou...”.
Commander Beckwith sat on a great many Committees for various purposes and in 1000 was seconded to organise and take charge of the Imports and Exports Office then being formed under the Liquor Control Ordinance, afterwards returning to his substantive position with, in the words of a letter from Sir Henry May, "the added credit of his achievement."
Commander Beckwith said he estimated the shipping tonnage of the port in 1923 at 00.000,000, the largest on record. He. added that a direction finder, which he had had under consideration for four years hnd now arrived and would soon be available for all-ships and this he hoped. would be of great service to vessels com- ing into the port in foggy weather.
Commander Beckwith was fhairman of the Hongkong Club in 1916.
#TRIBUTE FROM CHAMBER OF
COMMERCE.
The Hongong General Chamber of Commerce has addressed the following! letter to Commander Beckwith:--
Hongkong Gederal Chamber of Commerce,
Hongkong, February 16th, 1924. DEAR SIR,On behalf of the Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce I write to express the very great regret of the members at your impending departure fenim the Colony, especially as the ense is an unfortunate breakdown in health.
The occasion cannot be allowed to pass without conveying to you an expression of the Chamber's full appreciation of your strenuous and untiring efforts for the benefit of the Port and of Shipping dur- ing your association with the Harbour Department over the long period of cigh- teen years.
Your work in conne, on with the re- organisation of moorings is specially re- during the Wat preferred, is in no small membered; also your valuable services period, 1914-19, the strain of measure responsible for your present en- forced retirement,
0
Members of the Chamber join with your friends in wishing you a speedy return to a substantial measure of health, and many years of happiness in retirement.- I am, Yours very truly,
D. G. M.. BERNARD,- Chairman,
Hongkong Général Chamber of Commerce. Commander C. W. Beckwith, R.N., Harbour Master,
Hongkong. Commander Beckwith replied as fol-
Hongkong, February 18th, 1924. Dear. Mr. BERNARD,Thank you so much for your extremely kind letter on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce which I greatly appreciate. Situated ns I am it is comforting to know that whatever work I may have done towards improving this Big Port has been appreciated by those who are best able to understand its needs.
I am, Yours very sincerely.
When the Great War broke out, Com. mander Beckwith was probably the first volunteer in the Colony, for he waited on the Governor, Sir Henry Mny, for per- mission to join the fighting forces, at ten o'clock on the morning of the 4th of August, 1914. Sir Henry May hell that the Acting Harbour Master's services! could not be spared, but, later on, he lows: permitted the Harbour Master. Captain Taylour, to be seconded to the Admiralty. for war service. Capt. Taylour was there fore away from the Colony from 1915 to the end of the War and Commander Beck with carried on single-handed from 1010, when the acting Assistant Harbour Mas ter (Lieut. Daney, R.N.R.) died, during an exceptionally strenuous period in the histoly of Hongkong Harbour. War rules were drafted by the Commodore, in con- sultation with the Colonial Secretary and the Harbour Master and the movement of D. ships at night. examination, and other matters were regulated. Commander. Beckwith was Marshal of the Prize Court and had charge of all prizes that coine into the Harbour-an anxious respon- sillity during the typhoon seasons. The vessels were brought in by men-o'-war and morrel in Kowloon Bay, each with a
CHARLES BECKWITH, Commander, R.N. Bernard, Eaq.,“ Chairman, Chamber of Commerce,
Hongkong,
QRGAN RECITAL AT THE CATHEDRAL
skeleton grew and it was a great relief NEW ORGANIST'S COMPREHENSIVE
when these troublesome charges were ordered to England, where they were used as Troop ships. In addition, the Harbdur Master was appointed by Sir Henry May to be coiling officer for the Government and the Military, a ring of coal dealers having been formed in Japan, Commander Beckwith managed to break the ring and to secure during the war period something like 70,000 or 80,000 tons of coal at prices which represented
PROGRAMME.
The now organist of St. John's Cathe dra, Mr. Frederick Mason, AR.CO., TCL, gave his Erst recital in Hong- kong at the Cathedral yesterday after comprehensive pro boon. It was
ramme, ranging from Wagner at his heaviest to Dvorak at his lightst. At the opening of the choral prelude, A
a saving to the Government, on a con- Rose Breaks into Bloom (Brahms) n
of dollars, as compared with prevailing
servative estimate, of nearly eight lakhs large gathering, including the Bishop of Victoria, the principal Ineal clergy, and market
a number of residents, were seated. Mr; When Commander Btskwith was asked Mason's second niece was from Rhein- what he considered the best work he had herger's 5th sanata. in I sharp, and the been able to do in the Colony, he replied, broad parages of the allegro wept without hesitation, Buying, classifying through the Cathedral from a touch which and relaying the commercial buoys." He was obviously masterly Hamish Mac explained that, in 1616, Sir Henry, May Cunn's "In the Inglerenk" and Lemure's From the South" follow- requested him to form a small committee Spring Bong, to purchase on behalf of the Government ed, and then Mrs. N. Mathieson, the all the commercial buoys then in the possessor of a pleasing contralto voice, Harbour. With the growth of the ship- sung Porcell's well known and generally ping it had become impossible to permit liked Now That the Sun Hath Veiled the continuance of the old system under its Light." which buoys were only used by ships of Solennelle" (Mailly) concluded the first the Company owning them and were half of the programme sometimes vacant, for three weeks or a After the singing of a hymn and month or even more. This caused grent collection on behalf of the Organ Fund, congestion in the anchorages, while at Mr. Muson gave Schumann's the same time parts of the barbour were therei, followed by Dvorak'a lightsone unoccupied.. The Committee consisted of Humoreske," Mrs. Mathieson then ren- the Harbour Master (Chairman), Mr. Rdered another contralto solo" Righteous M. Dver and Mr. D. Macdonald.. About Art Thou, O Lord" (Stradella) and the 8200.000 was paid for the Imoys and the organist concluded with presenting the purchases were completed without arbi- introduction to Act 311 of Wagner's tration The Harbour Department then Tanhauser.
13
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