(Copy) H.1799.
Coast Inspector, Shanghai to Inspector General.
Shanghai,
26th December, 1912
Sir,
I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of
your despatch No. 608/1002., 0.1:
on:
Paracels Reef: Question of establishment of light
Correspondence from British Minister in re. Copy
of, forwarded for Coast Inspector's views on subject.
The delay in replying thereto is due to an attempt ---
which has failed so far---to obtain particulars of the
circumstances of the wreck of the S.S. "Quinta"
69
The Paracels consist of groups of reefs a few of
them having low islands associated with them enclosed
within an area of 78 miles in a North and South direction
and 95 miles in an East and West direction.
lies directly in what, in the absence of the reefs, would be the track from Singapore to Hongkong.
reas.
This area
ar
The usual track is some 40 miles to the eastward
of the Paracels, i.e. between the Paracels and the Mac-
clesfield Bank. The track to the westward is slightly longer and the currents there are stronger.
For vessels bound south, the track to pass the
Paracels is a straight one and in length about 390 miles from Hongkong, and no difficulty is involved.
May
Vessels bound north from Singapore have to alter
course