[ { "id": 207295, "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-1975", "page_number": 63, "title": "RAS-1975", "content_text": "INCIDENT: H.K. MERCHANTS & B.E.L. CO.\n\n55\n\nretired, and shortly after made their appearance in magnificent uniforms, and drew up in a body opposite to us.\n\nThe palace gate now opened, and a Mandarin slowly advanced towards me; he addressed me in Chinese, to which I could only reply by shaking my head and showing him my petition. He put out his hand to receive it, but I drew back mine, and made a sign I wanted to go into the palace to deliver it. He shook his head, and seemed decidedly averse to such a proceeding.\n\nWe were soon relieved from this embarrassment by the arrival of the two senior security merchants, Mowqua and Howqua, the first a fine old man of upwards of eighty years of age, and it was supposed that to those two we principally owed our detention,- the rest of the Hong came soon after.\n\nMowqua was in great agitation when he arrived, and addressed me in his usual Chinese-English, “Ah! Mister Commodore, what for you come here? you want security merchants have cutty head? Hoppo truly much angry English come his house, he will cutty my poor old head.\"-My reply was, \"Mowqua! it is your own fault; why did you not present the Typan's (chief supercargo's) petition to the Hoppo? had you done so, I should not have come here.\"-\"Good Mister Commodore, me takey petition, and will truly get answer directly.\"--\"No, no, Mowqua! I will give it into the Hoppo's own hand myself”,--on which all the security merchants set up a cry as if I had uttered some treason against the Celestial Empire, What you come here? you wanty see Hoppo? That you no can do-Hoppo send you to prison as soon as he know you come him house—we takey petition before he know you come city-get out fast you can; truly he too much angry he know you here.”\n\nThere now appeared a Mandarin of high rank, to whom the merchants paid great respect; he came up to Captain Craig, Mr. Perry and myself, who were standing with the two senior security merchants in front of our party; he, with civility, enquired what we wanted? and was instantly replied to by Mowqua, but I was determined to be my own interpreter. I therefore held up the petition for him to read the address, and made signs as before that I wanted to go into the palace to present it. This compelled Mowqua to come to an explanation with the Mandarin, who left us, as I supposed, to inform the Hoppo of our being there; he soon returned,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1975.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207296, "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-1975", "page_number": 64, "title": "RAS-1975", "content_text": "56\n\nJ. L. CRANMER-BYNG\n\nhowever, and held another consultation with the Hong merchants, who again informed me that I could not possibly see the Viceroy, and that I must entrust the petition to their care.\n\nOn this I thought it right to consult with Mr. Perry, Captain Craig, and some other senior commanders, whether they advised my yielding the point and giving up the petition. I however gave it as my own decided opinion that we should still persevere in demanding an audience, and in this I was supported by all but Mr. Perry, who thought we ought not to persist any longer. I however determined to resist, and informed the Hong merchants that nothing but force should compel us to leave the palace without an interview.\n\nI was the more inclined to persevere, from one of the junior merchants having whispered in my ear not to give up my point, and that he, and several other of the Hong, did not approve of what the seniors had been doing.\n\nAfter a long pause, Mowqua said to me, if I was resolved to see the Hoppo I must send away all the commanders and officers except one, and that he and I should then be admitted into the palace. To this I instantly agreed, and it was settled that Mr. Perry, the supercargo, should be the person to remain with me, and that Captain Craig and the rest of the party should retire out of the city, which they accordingly did.\n\nMr. Perry and myself were now left in the court of the Hoppo's palace, surrounded by a great number of Mandarins, Hong merchants, and soldiers; the Mandarin who took the lead then showed us into a large and splendid hall in the palace, where we were accompanied by the Hong merchants, who appeared extremely disconcerted at our success. It was now near twelve o'clock, and from that time until four every effort by promises, persuasion, and threats, was made use of by the Hong to prevail on me to give up the desire of seeing the Hoppo, but without effect; I was perfectly decided and firm, although frequently and most anxiously urged by Mr. Perry to yield the point.\n\nFinding that I was not to be moved, Mowqua at last told me I should soon see the Viceroy,—\"And now, Mister Commodore, when great man come, you must knocky head.\"—\"What is knocky head, Mowqua?” said I.—\"You must down on knees, and putty head on ground\", was the reply.—\"That's not my country fashion, Mowqua—I don't do so to my King, therefore will not do so to", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1975.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207297, "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-1975", "page_number": 65, "title": "RAS-1975", "content_text": "INCIDENT: H.K. MERCHANTS & B.E.I. CO.\n\n57\n\nyour Hoppo, but I will make him a bow while you knocky head.” With this, after some communication between the Mandarins and the security merchants, they appeared satisfied.\n\nI now found they were in earnest as to my seeing the Hoppo, and there was much bustle in the palace; they were, however, determined I should not imagine that I had forced an interview, as I was given to understand that the Viceroy was going to pay his colleague, the Fyane, a visit, and that I should see him as he went out.\n\nAt this time there were in the great hall thirty or forty Mandarins of various ranks, all the security merchants, Mr. Perry, and myself, with many other persons belonging to the palace,—in all I should suppose, about a hundred and fifty in number.\n\nThe doors were shortly thrown open, and we observed a procession issuing from another large house, and crossing a court to the hall we were in; the guard passed on, and presently there appeared the Hoppo, borne in a most magnificent state chair by sixteen men richly dressed; the chair was very splendid, and the Hoppo one of the finest and noblest-looking Chinese I had ever seen, with a remarkably fine black beard. The moment he entered the hall, every person, except Mr. Perry and myself, threw themselves down as if they had been shot through the head, touched the ground with their forehead, and were up again in a moment, even my old friend Mowqua, though so advanced in years, was down and up again as nimbly as a boy; on my remarking this to him after the interview was over, his reply was, \"Mister Commodore, I very much long time do that custom.\"\n\nAs the Hoppo approached to Mr. Perry and me, we made him a low bow. I then advanced, with my petition in my hand, to his chair, when he desired his bearers to stop, and, having called Mowqua, he required by him of me what I wanted? I said I had a petition which I was desirous of having the honour to deliver into his own hand. He asked if it was written in Chinese? I replied it was. He then put out his hand and took it from me, saying he was going to visit the Fyane, and that I should have an immediate\n\n* The Fyane. Lindsay made another mistake here. The Viceroy was not involved in this particular incident. When Lindsay mentions the Viceroy he is muddling him up with the Hoppo. In this particular incident the Hoppo received the memorial and then took it to the Governor (Fyane= Fu-yuan Governor).", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1975.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213636, "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-1995", "page_number": 232, "title": "RAS-1995", "content_text": "207\n\nJack Edwards, since well-known for his work on behalf of ex-P.O.W.s, and their families. The trial began on October 3rd 1946 and ended with convictions two weeks later. I need say no more as Jack Edwards had written a graphic account of the conditions at Kinkaseki in his book \"Banzai you Bastards\".\n\nMy second case turned into a marathon. It opened to a crowded courtroom on October 21st 1946 and ended in an equally-crowded court on November 30th - Hong Kong's longest-running War Crimes Trial. The Royal Navy took a special interest in the case due to the number of Naval Personnel who had perished, and the Hong Kong Commodore sent out a signal that all Naval Officers not on sea duty were to attend the opening of the trial in No.1 uniform with medals and swords. About fifty did so, arriving early to take up the front spectator seats in the Jardine East Point Godown (since demolished) which had been furnished as a court. A Naval Officer sat as a member of the Tribunal.\n\nThe accused was of medium height, and aged 45. He held himself well in the dock. He spoke passable English, but preferred to give evidence in his own language. The accused, Captain Kyoda Shigeru, had been Master of the \"Lisbon Maru\" which sailed from Hong Kong for Tokyo on September 27th 1942. It had on board, in overcrowded conditions, 1816 undernourished British and Allied P.O.W.s who were being moved to Japan to work in factories there. It also carried a substantial number of Japanese troops returning for relocation and a general cargo. Three days after sailing from Hong Kong the \"Lisbon Maru\" was torpedoed by a U.S. submarine which punched a hole in the stern and thereafter the vessel was slowly sinking. The Officer-in-charge of the P.O.W. detachment, a young Lieutenant Wada, ordered the accused to batten down the prisoners in the hatches, and to remove the ventilation chutes.\n\nAccording to evidence, the accused first argued with Lt. Wada, but when the order was repeated he gave instructions to the Ship's Carpenter to carry it out. As the ship slowly sank, conditions in the holds became more and more intolerable, and deaths due to drowning and asphyxia began to occur. No food or water was supplied. The air was foul, and they were in darkness. There were no latrine facilities.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1995.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/95941j25g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215136, "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-2000", "page_number": 232, "title": "RAS-2000", "content_text": "189\n\nspeed test over a set distance. This is done, for example, for ships built on the Firth of Clyde, in Scotland (Sinclair, 2000). The late James A W Deacon, Superintendent of Lights in the Hong Kong Government Marine Department, told me they tried unsuccessfully to find a place for timing ships over a measured sea mile on the south side of Hong Kong Island. Eventually such a \"course\" was, it is understood, set up at Tseung Kwan O (Junk Bay), in the eastern New Territories. It seems unlikely that the two Obelisks at Tai Tam were ever used for timing ships because of their rather 'tucked away' positions. There is also no evidence of there ever having been a second pair of beacons in the vicinity.\n\nAre there other possible uses for the two Tai Tam Obelisks? I was informed firstly in the late 1970s by a master mariner and senior civil servant in the Government Marine Department, that a Royal Navy Officer, who had served in Hong Kong before World War Two, had told him that the two Obelisks had been used when submarines submerged during tests. This practice came into being (so it was said) because of the loss of HM Submarine Thetis, on 1 June 1939, on its maiden dive with the loss of 99 sailors and civilians. A diver who went down to try to effect a rescue was also lost. Only four occupants managed to escape from the submarine using the Davis Escape Apparatus. The Royal Navy Officer told the senior Marine Department Officer that submarines were sent to Tai Tam Bay, after repairs or refits in the old Royal Naval Dockyard. At Tai Tam they could dive to periscope depth, in line between the two Obelisks. Then, if anything were to go wrong, the submarine could be traced and the crew rescued hopefully relatively quickly. The now retired Marine Department member of staff acknowledges that he never had material in writing to support this statement but he believes the information was given to him in good faith.\n\nWhen this information was put to Guy Clarabutt, who served in Royal Navy submarines in Hong Kong before World War Two, he said he had never heard of such a practice (Sinclair, 2000). Neither could he remember the two Obelisks at Tai Tam (Waters, 2000). I spoke to a young British naval officer stationed at HMS Tamar, on Hong Kong Island, in 1995. He felt that such a practice was highly unlikely. In 1997, however, I raised the same question with Commodore PJ Melson CBE, Chief of Staff and Deputy to Commander British Forces. He, as", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2000.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n", "rank": 0 } ]