400
equivalent to the 9.2 inch guns at Mount Davis and Stanley Fort Batteries. The gun embrasure was bricked up as part of the 1974 conversion works and steel dead shoring erected to provide extra support for the overhanging cantilevered canopy. A new door opening was also formed in 1974 in the rear wall. The original door opening is still there and leads to a small rear compartment with three recesses in the wall noted on the P.W.D. drawing as 'voids' which would have been the expense magazines. The original rear entrance staircase to the gun emplacement was filled in with compacted earth and slabbed over with concrete.
The 1968 Hong Kong Government 1:1,000 scale Survey Sheet (Sheet Number 16-NW-2D) shows several small rectangular structures near the gun emplacement, but there is no indication what they were originally. One was probably a searchlight emplacement and another one near the cliff edge may have been a forward observation post. Another rectangle marked 'R' for ruin on the inland side of the hill may have been the main magazine as it appears to have what looks like a separate blast wall constructed along one side of it. Still yet another structure further down the hillside may have been a barrack block for the gun crew. All this is of course conjecture and independent verification and further research are needed.
A report on the gun emplacement was prepared in 1999 by the writer and submitted to the Antiquities and Monuments Office for record purposes. It is however unlikely that the structure will be graded as a historical building or receive cultural heritage status. Due to its remoteness Tathong Point is not easily accessible and with its dangerous steep and rocky cliffs it is not recommended to encourage the general public to visit the site. Permission from the Marine Department would be necessary anyway.
To illustrate the hazards involved in visiting Tathong Point, an incident recorded in the Public Works Department file should be mentioned. The file contains a memorandum (Memo) from the Director of Marine to the Director of Public Works reporting that at 11:00 hours in September 1966 (exact date not given) the launch “Ming Kee” carrying 12 'light-house workers' capsized off the Tathong Point Light House. All were saved by a sampan which was fishing in the vicinity. Enquiries revealed that the workers were employed by the Fook Lee
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400
equivalent to the 9.2 inch guns at Mount Davis and Stanley Fort Batteries. The gun embrasure was bricked up as part of the 1974 conversion works and steel dead shoring erected to provide extra support for the overhanging cantilevered canopy. A new door opening was also formed in 1974 in the rear wall. The original door opening is still there and leads to a small rear compartment with three recesses in the wall noted on the P.W.D. drawing as 'voids' which would have been the expense magazines. The original rear entrance staircase to the gun emplacement was filled in with compacted earth and slabbed over with
concrete.
The 1968 Hong Kong Government 1:1,000 scale Survey Sheet (Sheet Number 16-NW-2D) shows several small rectangular structures near the gun emplacement, but there is no indication what they were originally. One was probably a searchlight emplacement and another one near the cliff edge may have been a forward observation post. Another rectangle marked 'R' for ruin on the inland side of the hill may have been the main magazine as it appears to have what looks like a separate blast wall constructed along one side of it. Still yet another structure further down the hillside may have been a barrack block for the gun crew. All this is of course conjecture and independent verification and further research are needed.
A report on the gun emplacement was prepared in 1999 by the writer and submitted to the Antiquities and Monuments Office for record purposes. It is however unlikely that the structure will be graded as a historical building or receive cultural heritage status. Due to its remoteness Tathong Point is not easily accessible and with its dangerous steep and rocky cliffs it is not recommended to encourage the general public to visit the site. Permission from the Marine Department would be necessary anyway.
To illustrate the hazards involved in visiting Tathong Point, an incident recorded in the Public Works Department file should be mentioned. The file contains a memorandum (Memo) from the Director of Marine to the Director of Public Works reporting that at 11:00 hours in September 1966 (exact date not given) the launch “Ming Kee” carrying 12 'light-house workers' capsized off the Tathong Point Light House. All were saved by a sampan which was fishing in the vicinity. Enquiries revealed that the workers were employed by the Fook Lee
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