[
    {
        "id": 204826,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1964",
        "page_number": 129,
        "title": "RAS-1964",
        "content_text": "108\n\nCRANMER-BYNG AND SHEPHERD\n\no'clock on the morning of the 13 inst. We shortly after got under weigh with a fresh breeze from the north, and worked up with the tide to the point anchor in the plan, near the Nine Islands where we anchored. The weather was squally with rain and so thick that we could scarcely discern land. At day break we weighed and worked up to Lintin, where at twelve o'clock we anchored. I went immediately on board the Lion and delivered Your Excellency's Letters to Sir Erasmus Gower. As it rained hard and blew fresh, I remained there for the night, and at seven in the morning I returned to the Jackall, when as there was some appearance of its clearing up, Captain Proctor got under weigh, and stood towards the Island of Lantao. The soundings are expressed in fathoms in the plan, and they point out the track of the vessel. We inserted the rocks marked A.B. which we did not observe in any former plan. The weather continued so thick above, that we could not discover the Peak of Lantao, nor with any precision the land along the shore. At the point C the island marked Shatlapko in the charts, wore so favourable an appearance, that we stood towards it, although as it had been laid down between it and the island of Lantao, little hopes could be entertained of finding shelter for shipping from westerly winds. At one o'clock find that we suddenly shoaled our water, we anchored in 44 fathom water over soft mud at the inner point marked anchor. The uncertain state of the weather, and the short time it was probable we could allow for the examination of Cowhee, made it necessary to hasten from this anchorage. Whilst we took angles in the ship, the boat was dispatched to sound, with directions to stand over to the South East side, as soon as she should find, towards Shatlapko so little as three fathoms water. This she very shortly did and her track and soundings are expressed in the plan. The Island of Shatlapko we found to extend towards the shore of Lantao; by which it appears, that the whole of this bay is sheltered from westerly winds. The officer who sounded in the boat, reported his having seen boats pass through the channel marked D, that the land in its neighbourhood on Lantao was low and cultivated, as was that marked E which he discovered through the opening!\". The point to the north west of E, has been hitherto laid down as an island; as well as",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1964.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 204827,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1964",
        "page_number": 130,
        "title": "RAS-1964",
        "content_text": "A RECONNAISSANCE OF MA WAN\n\n109\n\nthe thick weather would allow us to judge, we thought to the contrary, and it is sketched in according to the concurring opinions of the gentlemen on board\". Immediately after dinner we weighed and worked out of the bay, we anchored in the evening at the outermost anchor the weather again became thick and squally with rain. At break of day we weighed and worked over to anchor on the north shore which is laid down in the charts as a part of the main. It was now so thick that we could only see the Bottoe Islands12 at intervals, and very rarely the shore of Lantao. At eleven it cleared a little, we again got under weigh, and stood eastward along the shore, having a fine deep bay with a sandy beach to our left. We saw some large fishing boats and several huts, apparently the habitations of fishermen along the shore marked G. When we got off the point G we had irregular and very strong gusts of wind off the high land, and we could get no bottom with a hand line of 14 fathoms. Westward of the point H is a beach of about three quarters of a mile on which is a village consisting of ten or twelve houses13; some of these appeared very lately to have suffered from fire. On seeing the vessel approach, five or six men ran to the top of a small, but rather high conical rock, at H, as if for protection, here they remained till we passed them. The wind still blew fresh in puffs off the land, and we could get no bottom, at length however we got up to anchor eastward of H. and anchored in 13 fathoms hard gravel and shells, with 15 fathoms under the ship's stern. From the strength and irregularity of the squalls, the rapidity of the currents in this narrow channel, and the badness of the ground on which we had anchored, Captain Proctor wished to get away again with the vessel as soon as possible; we therefore went on shore on the island of Cowhee, agreeable to your Excellency's instructions.\n\nWe first stood over to the point I, we found no bottom with the hand line till very near the shore, where we had seven fathoms with a rocky bottom. We could not land here owing to the sea occasioned by the wind and current. We rowed eastward along the island six or seven hundred yards, where we turned a rocky point, close to which we had 34 fathoms with a rocky bottom, and a little way further out 17 fathoms. East of this is a small bay about 300 yards from point to point, and 80 or 100 yards in depth. In this bay we had 7, 6, 5 and 44 fathoms over soft mud,",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1964.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 204831,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1964",
        "page_number": 134,
        "title": "RAS-1964",
        "content_text": "A RECONNAISSANCE OF MA WAN\n\n113\n\nCaptain Proctor in his passage from Chusan in the Endeavour in October last, came through what is called the Cowhee Passage. It was then blowing hard from the south east. The pilot carried him to the westward of Cowhee, and he anchored for the night in 8 fathoms water, soft mud, off the point L. In the morning he passed to the southward of the Bottoe Islands, having 5 and 6 fathoms over soft mud all the way in shore.\n\nOn the morning of the 17th we got under weigh and passed close to the northward of the Bottoe Islands, we then stood over to the north shore, and worked up to the northward of the islands of Lonkoo25 and Lintin. The weather was so thick that we were frequently out of sight of land. At the turn of tide we anchored near some fishing stakes in 4 fathoms water, Lintin bearing SSE distant about 15 miles. On the 18th we weighed and worked up to Anson's Bay, and on the 19th we passed the Bocca Tigris, and reached the Indiamen at the second bar. The 20th in the evening the Jackall arrived at Whampoo.\n\nSigned: HENRY WM. PARISH\n\nLieut. Royal Artillery\n\nN.B. The soil in general is free from stone, but the surface of the hill on the north west side of the island is covered with stones of a moderate size, and proper for building.\n\nGeographical Comments\n\nAny note on the value of Parish's survey of Ma Wan (Cowhee) and Lantao Island must inevitably take into account the state of nautical knowledge of Hong Kong waters at the time. This was probably sketchy; indeed, Parish himself states that he made a major revision to the outline of Lantao. His own work was very accurate, and his records of depths and currents off Lantao and around Ma Wan are confirmed exactly on modern charts26. His constant harping on the difficulties of navigation, however, cannot be ascribed entirely to the awkwardness of the local topography; bad weather (of which he had plenty), and a clumsy square-rigged ship, cannot have helped to raise his opinion of the area.\n\nThe channels around Ma Wan and North Lantao contain some of the deepest and most dangerous waters in Hong Kong. Both on rising and falling tides, there is a concentration of currents of up to seven knots along both east and west coast of Ma Wan, and these converge in the channel between Lantao Island and",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1964.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r",
        "rank": 0
    }
]