1941-01-20 — Page 94

CHINA MAIL, PAGE 40

HONG KONG CENTENARY NUMBER

1841

Rapid Handling Of

(Continued from Page 44)

by road or water-buses pass the main entrance and taxis at low rates of hire are easily summoned by telephone.

A number of work launches are maintained and harbour Engineers visit the ships in harbour on the arrival.

Cosmopolitan Dock Is a co- plete self-contained establishment on the West sule of the Kowloon Peninsula The cock is capable

taking ships of over 10,000 : . deadweight and the Yard is equips ped with adequate nunch.ne shop, a foundry and the othe necessary shop, plant and applat enna that work can be most exp di susly undertaken

It will be observed that Ceunguny ha three doc Es capabl ed taking slaps over 400 feet hizi; and the result of this is that even in busy times ships are no, kept waiting to be accommodated in the clock

Aberdeen 1ocks are kept for overflow purposes and ate nut used to any extent.

In addibon in the small craft referred to already the Company maintaits two tugs, the larger be- ing the now well-known salvage tug "Henry Keswick". This lug has worked successfully on ship. salvaged from North of Formos, to the Southern Philippines and The Indo-China coast. It is fully equipped with the usual salvage appliances, pumps, air compres- sors, cargo handling gear, life... boats and has powerful wireless telegraphy, direction finder and echo sounding apparatus for easily finding its way in fog or difficult waters. European divers as well as Chinese comprise the usual səi- vage crew up to a total comple- ment of 160 men and the fug is kept ready for service at short notice and, having a good turn of speed as well as tried sea going qualities, can render prompt and efficient service to ships in need.

At Quarry Bay

In 1866, John Swire & Sons started their China business, which has since spread to practic- ally every port in China, by open- ing a branch in Shanghai under the trade name of Butterfield & Swire. In 1872, the China Navi- gation Company, Limited, was formed under the management of John Swire & Sons, and normally runs regular services on the Yang- tze up to Chungking on the China Coast and overseas to Ma- laya, Indo-China, Borneo, the Philippines and New Guinea,

Based on their experience in shipowning in China, John Swire & Sons in 1900 decided that a fast growing seaport like Hong Kong needed ariditional Jocks and mo- dern facilities for the repair cf ships and machinery and there- fore leased from the Hong Kong Government land at Quarry Bay on the Island of Hong Kong for the purpose of building a modern dockyard. This was an ideal site for a dockyard as it is immediately inside Lyemoon Pass which is the deep water entrance to Hong Kong. Harbour and the land had sea. frontage with deep water on the North and the East.

7 Acres

The total area of the dockyard is 52% acres, about 20 acres hav- ing been reclaimed from the sea and the remainder excavated from the solid rock. In August, 1908, the first vessel, entered the dock and ship repairing commenced:

The Company's, establishment, situated on the Jsland of Hon Kong, is a thoroughly up-to-dat

and efficiently equipped shipyard and enginering works.

The granite dry dock, con- structed to British Admiralty re- quirements, has an extreme length of 787 feat, length on blocks 750 fect, width at coping 120 (t, width at entrance 93 feet 4 inches at top and 89 feet at bottom, depth of water over rene of si ac high water ordinary spring tides 31 To provide for feet 6 inches. Smaller vesse.s there

three slipways, the largest of which can take up steamers of 4,000 tons di-placement.

are

The shipbuild ng yard is com- Flete with a modern plant for the build ng of vessels uf all claves and sizes. The building hen this will take vesels up to 500 tock B. and the largest ship to tar budt is MV. Breconshire" 475 0 dam asu

66'0" 38′0′′ (Gross Tonnage 9,776). The yard has a special staff of expert

X

X

The launching at Talkoo est ship ever built in Hong

designers and is in a position to undertake shipowners' require- ments in a very wide range ui craft.

The main workshops cover over six acres of ground and comprise erecting shops, heavy and light machine shops,. Doiler shop, forge and smithy, iron and brass foun- dries, coppersmiths' shop, etc.

The machine shops are equip Fed with the latest type of mach- Inc wols for building and repair- ing engines up to the largest sizes: there is also a complete equipment of machines and tools for building both "Parsons" and "Brown- Curtis turbines, which the Com-'. pany builds under special licenca from Messrs. Parsons,

Special features of the works are the iron, and brass foundries. All work in these departments la under the care of a mátallurgical chemist. In the iron foundry :special high grade heat resisting castings are produced; the Con- pany being makers under licence

Repairs

af Lanz Perlit" iron which is a liard, easily machined, high ten- sile iron particularly suitable for the high temperatures and pres- sures mét' with in internal com- bustion and superheated steam machinery.

The boiler shop has а very complete plant for bui'ding mar- ine and land boilers up to th largest sizes and plates up to 30 feet long and 2 inches thick can be realt with. The Company has a large number of the most mo- dern e cetric-welding plants and undegiakes extensive work by this process as well as by oxyace- tylene gas, either at their yard ron clients' ships or premises.

Diesel Builders

The Taikoo Dockyard are also Sulzer special licensees to build Diesel Machinery in collaboration with the Patentees, and have spe-

BRECONSHIRE

of the "Breconshire," the larg- Kong.

cial modern plant for dealing with

Diesel building and repairs to machinery, and a staff with special experience in such work.

The berthing quay wall is 3,200 feet long, and for the greater part of its length there is a depth of water of 40 feet: The establish- ment is well provided with a sys- tem of railways, travelling cranes,. overhead and stationary cranes, for transporting heavy materials,

largest cranes having a lifting: capacity of 100 tons.

The Company possesses a pow». erful salvage tug with complete salvage gear, and expert salvors;

The Company undertakes the overhauling of all types of vassein. and the rapid handling of repaira has been made a special feature.

Every Type Of Craft

Messrs. W. Si Bailey: & Co., Ltd.,.which has been established since 1800, has its Ofice and Works at To-Kwa-Wan, in Ków-

loon Bay.

Ships up to 200 feet in length can be built at this Yard, and amongst the early successes of the Company can be mentioned the "Kwong, Sal" and "Kwong Tung," two river steamers, built in 1903 and stili in commission.

Of over 300 vessels completed, almost every type of craft is re- presented, ranging from passen- ger ships to sailing yachts, and including Gunboats, Fast Patrols for Police and Revenue Depart- ments, Tugs, Cargo vessels, Har- bour launches, both luxury and utility, Oil Tankers, Oil Lighters, Cargo Lighters, both Bucket and Grub Dredgers. Passenger Ferries, and Pontoons equipped for rock drilling, concreting, pile driving, etc. Steel ships, Wooden ships Motor ships and Steam

represented in the ships are all above list and a competent Euro- pean designing staff is employed, capable of dealing with any class of enquiry.

..

Five-Ton Castings

The shipyard is weil equipped with the necessary machinery for handling this work, comprising as It does high-powered Punching and Shearing machines, Plate Rolls, Planing, Drilling and Coun- tersinking machines, and Pneu- matic Rivetters.

The machinery department is equally well equipped. Marine engines and, boilers have been constructed for many of the ships built in the yard, as well as for vessels built elsewhere,

Forgings of all descriptions, from crank shafts to eye bolts, can be manufactured in the adjacent smithy, with its steam hammers and forges, and its staff of expert blocksmiths. The coppersmiths' shop deals with piping of all sizes, and experienced fitters are em- ployed for installation and assem- bly work of

The every kind. foundry is capable of supplying and Iton castings up to 5 tons non-ferrous castings up to 1 ton.

For repair work the yard js equipped with modem electrically operated slipways. The fitting out wharves are alongside the slip- ways and have a depth of water of about 13 feet at low tide. Amongst the larger repair and re- conditioning work carried out, the Douglas Company's steamer "Hai Ning" was a noteworthy achieve- ment.

Messrs. Bailey & Co. are sole agents in Hong Kong and South Chiba for the well-known Kelvin motors, both Kerosene and Diesel, the and carry stocks of most of spares needed for replacements.

FIRST LANDING

The official act of taking pos- session of Hong Kong is thus no- tleed by Sir Edword Belcher in his "Voyage of H.M.S. Sulphur." "We landed on Monday the 25th January 1941, at fifteen minutes past eight am, and being the bona fido first possessors, Her Majesty's health was drunk with three cheers on Fossession Mount, On the 26th, the squadron arrived; the marines were landed, the Union" Juck boisted on, cur post, and 'forinal possession taken of the Is- lund by Commadere Be & G. Bramer, accompanied by other ofs. fcers of his," squadron, under a Jeu-de-Joie from the marines' and the Royal salute from the ships of war. On the Kowloon peninsula were situated two batteries, which might have commanded the an- chorage, but which appeared to be, thinly manned; these, received dua notice to withdraw their men, and guns as agreed by the late treaty."

1941