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Enclosure 6.
FINDING OF THE MARINE COURT.
We find that the British Steamship Ying King, Official No. 116,031 of Hongkong, of which ERNEST JAMES PAGE, Certificate of Competency No. 491 of New South Wales, was Master, left Canton at 6 p.m. on the 27th July, 1908, on a voyage to Hongkong, with a full general cargo, about 430 passengers, of whom 3 were Europeans, and 23 crew, besides about 10 in the Compradore's staff, making about 465 souls all told. This is a rough estimate by the Mate.
After leaving Canton, with a light North-easterly breeze, weather clear, sky overcast, barometer falling, all went well until after passing Bogue Forts, when the wind and sea rose, the barometer falling rapidly. At about 11.30 p.m. the Master decided to anchor, on account of the very heavy sea, between Pillar Point and Castle Peak. Two anchors were let go, and with the assistance of the engines held the ship. The weather continued to get worse, the sea breaking over the ship, which finally took a heavy list, from the cargo shifting, and large quantities of water found its way into the engine room, extinguishing the fires at about 2.30 a.m. At about 2.50 a.m. the list suddenly increased and the ship Of the 465 souls on board only 42 appear to have survived. The Master and foundered. about 420 others perishing.
We find that the cause of the foundering was the Typhoon, which passed over the Colony during that night. That all reasonable precautions were taken to ensure the safety of the ship and passengers. That the state of the sea rendered any recourse to boats for saving life out of the question. Finally we desire to record our expression of regret at the grave loss of life.
Given under our hands at Victoria in the Colony of Hongkong, this Eleventh day of August, 1908.
BASIL TAYLOR, Commander, R.N.
Stipendiary Magistrate and President of the Court. HENRY BUTTERWORTH, Lieut., R.N.,
H.M.S. Tamar.
E. BEETHAM,
Master, British S.S. Empress of India. CHAS. V. LLOYD,
Master, British S.S. Fatshan,
E. EVANS,
Master, British S.S. Hoi Ming.
Enclosure 7.
REPORT OF CHIEF RESIDENT ENGINEER KOWLOON-CANTON RAILWAY, BRITISH SECTION.
TYPHOON Damages.
KowLoos, 4th August, 1908.
SIR-I have gone right through the line since the typhoon and find that the damage done is very small considering the strength of the typhoon.
Most damage was done at the North Face Tunnel, where the most serious items were, the unroofing of the coolie quarters and the power house.
The unroofing of the coolie quarters drove all the coolies into Hongkong which forced the work to close down for a week. The miners' quarters on the top of the hill suffered also.
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A start was made next day to provide quarters for the coolies who were to repair the Cre permanent ones, and to-day I believe, there were to be sufficient coolies out there to start the beading.
At the South Side no miners' quarters were injured but the roofs were blown partly off a couple of coolie quarters but this did not stop the work as the coolies went to Kowloon "and came to the work daily.
Mr. Valpy whose house is at the top of the hill at Sha-tin said his house was greatly protected by the musquito gauze netting which was all round the verandah and which evidently formed a sort of cushion as he was able to remain in his verandah during the height of the storm.
On the rest of the line the damage by the typhoon was small and not such as to cause any delay to the work. The launch Marlow was driven on shore in Tide Cove and a couple of lighters slightly damaged. Some of the jetties were also damaged but very little material was lost.
The heavy rain previous did more damage really than the typhoon. 124 inches was reported from Taipo in twenty-four hours. This caused a heavy flood in the river that runs through the Causeway at Taipo, the water being three feet higher on the inside than on the ontside.
On the reclamation works at Kowloon work stopped for a considerable time and as none of the contractors' European foremen did much, work was a long time in getting started again.
I have, &c.,
To the Honourable, The Colonial Secretary.
Enclosure 8 (1).
(Signed) G. W. EVES,
Chief Resident Engineer.
REPORT BY DISTRICT OFFICER, TAI PO.
The New Territory N. suffered wonderfully little from the typhoon. Apart from the case of the Ying King on the West, and of one tra ling junk on the East-No. S. 1,503 H.- I can hear of absolutely no loss of life. The loss from the junk the Police have not been able to ascertain exactly, but even there most of the crew escaped.
At Tai Po and Sha Tin a number of junks were driven ashore and of course damaged --details in the Morning Reports of the two days succeeding the storm in Plover Cove one junk was sunk; but in none of these cases was there any loss of life. I am leaving the Railway damage out of consideration.
The crops over most of the Territory had been harvested before the typhoon; the wet ten days of July had done a lot of harm, and the people worked hard in the two fine days between the wet weather and the typhoon to get in all they could. The rest was of course further damaged by the typhoon, but was far from being entirely ruined. It was beaten flat quite early and so escaped much shaking, and as it was fit to cut, it has all been taken off the fields since, and there was no need to choose between reaping unripe grain and leaving it a little to ripen at the risk of rotting. The San Tin district alone may have suffered very badly; the flood there is only now subsiding sufficiently to allow of harvesting, and much of the crop not previously reaped will no doubt be rotted. No appeals for special help have however been made, and the Crown Rent in each district seems to be coming in at least as fast, if not rather faster than before.
The barometer at Tai Po read 29.15 at 3 a.m. in the typhoon.
No serious collapses, and practically no important shore damage in the villages.
2nd August, 1908.
E. R. HALLIFAX,
District Officer.
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