Directory_and_Chronicle_1899 — Page 567

Directories & Chronicles 香港指南 All

TAKU

沽大 Ta-ku

This village is situated at the mouth of the Pei-ho, on the southern side of the river about sixty-seven miles from Tientsin. The land is so flat at Taku that it is difficult for a stranger to detect the entrance to the river. There are two anchorages, an outer and inner.

The former extends from the Customs Junks to three miles outside the Bar, seaward; the latter from Liang-kia-yuan on the south to the Customs Jetty, Tz'chu-in, on the north. The village is a poor one, possessing few shops, no buildings of interest except the forts, and the only foreign residents are the Customs employés and some pilots. A railway from the adjoining town of Tungku (two miles up the river) to fientsin was completed in 1888.

Taku is memorable on account of the engagements that have taken place between its forts and the British and French naval forces. The first attack was made on the 20th May, 1858, by the British squadron under Sir Michael Seymour, when the forts were passed and Lord Elgin proceeded to Tientsin, where on the 26th June he signed the famous Treaty of Tientsin. The second attack, which was fatally unsuccessful, was made by the British forces in June, 1859. The third took place on the 21st August, 1860, when the forts were captured, the booms placed across the river destroyed, and the British ships sailed triumphantly up to Tientsin. The water on the bar ranges from about two to fourteen feet at the Spring tides. At certain states of the tide, steamers are obliged to ancnor outside until there is sufficient water to cross.

Directory_and_Chronicle_1899 — Page 567

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