[
    {
        "id": 215556,
        "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-2001",
        "page_number": 333,
        "title": "RAS-2001",
        "content_text": "283\n\nan important strategic port for merchants.\n\nIn the process of competing with Macao as the doorway to China trade, Hong Kong had its moments of hesitation. It had its own internal problems to solve during the three decades after 1841, such as building roads, houses, godowns, and having to provide an attractive and safe environment for trade. Only in 1875, after Hong Kong had developed into a port which was busy receiving Chinese junks from the north as well as Japanese vessels from the East and European steamers from the West was the first lighthouse at Cape D'Aguilar constructed to facilitate the navigation route leading to its harbour.\n\nShips from the West\n\nTo build lighthouses was a need formed by several elements. First, the marine navigation route from Europe to Asia used to go round the Cape of Good Hope off South Africa. In 1869, the Suez Canal was opened for navigation, shortening the distance between Europe and East Asia by 20 to 30 per cent as well as cutting the cost, facilitating more frequent sea traffic.4 Secondly, the Industrial Revolution in Europe increased drastically the supply of consumer goods which, in turn, demanded more and more large steamships with greater speed to carry them. Thirdly, shipping costs depend not only on the size and speed of the vessel or the time needed for the transportation. Part of the cost goes to the insurance against the danger of shipwrecks. The safe route with good navigation aids affected the cost of the goods directly. Because of the above elements, the demand for building lighthouses on the sea route to Hong Kong became more pressing with the increase of trade.\n\nOld lighthouses\n\nBefore the setting up of lighthouses in Hong Kong there were already lighthouses in nearby waters. On the Eastern approaches to the Singapore Straits Horsburgh Lighthouse was established in 1851.5 Off the west coast of Taiwan located on Xi Yu Island of the Pescadores/Penghu Islands, the Fisherman Island Lighthouse (Yureng Tao Lighthouse) was set up as early as 1778.6 In Macao, the Guia lighthouse (Farol da Guia), built in 1865, claims to be the oldest on the China coast. These lighthouses, however, did not provide enough help for\n\n7",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 215580,
        "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-2001",
        "page_number": 357,
        "title": "RAS-2001",
        "content_text": "307\n\nand Monuments Office and the Government Marine Department and to everyone mentioned in the text. Without their help this paper would not have been written. Special thanks are also due to Yip Kin-sang Superintendent of Aids to Navigation of the Marine Department. Thanks are also due to many other helpful people including Master Mariners Roger Parry and Alan Lack, Dr James Hayes, Simon Lord, Paul Brown, Phillip Bruce, Louis Thomas and S J Chan. This paper would not be complete without photographs and those published here are indeed rather special. For these, a very sincere thank you to Charles Slater.\n\nNOTES\n\nPart One\n\n1. T. Roger Banister (1932). The Coastwise Lights of China, Shanghai: Inspectorate General of Customs, Statistical Department.\n\n2. Lee Krystek - http://unmuseum.mus.pa.us/pharos.htm\n\n3. Trinity House - http://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/\n\n4. A day in history - http://www.sis.gov.eg/calendar/html/cl171196.htm\n\n5. It was named after James Horsburgh (1762-1836), an eminent hydrographer for the East India Company, author of the book Sailing Directions, which became the most widely used nautical directory of Eastern waters during the first half of the 19th century. He was also a Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The lighthouse has a cone-shape tower painted with black and white horizontal bands. http://www.lighthouseclothing.com/database/searchdatabase.cfm.\n\n6. It was rebuilt in 1875 in the form of a white conical cast-iron tower with black trim. The 30-foot high tower with lantern constructed of oyster shells had a light visible for 20.5 nautical miles.\n\n7. T.R. Banister concedes that the claim is good only in its literal sense. '...if we except such primitive lights as the old open beacon at north-east promontory, or the ancient native light on Fisher Island in the Pescadores. The Tungsha Lightship, in the Yangtze Estuary, was established in 1855, and the Taitan Light was apparently first shown by the Chinese priests in 1863. But neither of these were exactly light [houses].'",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g",
        "rank": 0
    }
]