NO 198.
2 Copol
C.O
22222
REC? [Red! 30 JUN 13 |
250
Sir,
GOVERNMENT HOUSE.
HONGKONG. 5th. June, 1913.
The Harbour Master has recently raised the
question of the importance to shipping in the Far East of the
construction and maintenance of Lighthouses on the Pratas and the
Paracels Islands. I attach a list which he has prepared of vessels
lost on these reefs. It is probably not complete, as wrecks on
these reefs have not been specially recorded in the Harbour Depart-
-ment, but it shows that there have been at least 12 wrecks on each
reef. The Admiralty charts show one wreck that of H. M. S.
"Reynard"
-
as being still visible in 1865 on the Pratas Shoal, and
5 wrecks remaining on the Paracels in 1885.
2.
In the case of the "Bolton Abbey" heard on the 17th. October, 1881, the Marine Court expressed the following view:- The Court cannot too strongly express their opinion that the Pratas Shoal should be provided with lights. The shoal was surveyed in 1858, and, being in the track of numerous ships navigating the China Sea, has been a fruitful source of disaster, as is evidenced by the many vessels wrecked on this highly dangerous and as yet un- -marked shoal". Similarly on the 24th. October, 1881, another Marine Court, which investigated the stranding of the "Geraldine Paget" on the same shoal, added the following rider to its finding:- "We repeat the opinion given at the recent Marine Court of inquiry that the Pratas Shoal should be'efficiently lit up" ". Admiralty Chart No. 362 (Pratas Reef and Island) contains the following re-
HE RIGHT HONOURABLE
LEWIS HARCOURT, M.P.,
&C..
&C..
&C...
-mark:-