[
    {
        "id": 215554,
        "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": 331,
        "title": "RAS-2001",
        "content_text": "281\n\nHONG KONG'S LIGHTHOUSES\n\nAND\n\nTHE MEN WHO MANNED THEM\n\nLOUIS HA and DAN WATERS\n\n[Complementary HKBRAS lectures were delivered by Fr. Louis Ha (Part One) and Dr. Dan Waters (Part Two) on 3rd May 2002. The following day, courtesy the Director, Government Marine Department, 93 HKBRAS members and guests visited Waglan Lighthouse. The above two lectures were based on the following text. All photographs accompanying these complementary papers were taken on the visit by long-time RAS member Charles Slater.]\n\nPART ONE\n\nLighthouses on the coast, \"sentinels of the sea\", are without doubt romantic and interesting to the ordinary person. Their loneliness and isolation, the mental picture of waves dashing vainly at their feet while the light shines overhead, far and wide over darkness and angry waters, the drama of shipwreck and rescue, and of successful passage through storm and stress, combine to give them a special appeal to the hearts and minds of all men.'\n\nThis is one of the beautiful descriptions of lighthouses written by the Deputy Commissioner of Customs of China, T. Roger Banister, in 1932.1\n\nPractical aids\n\nIn reality, lighthouses exist for much more practical purposes; as aids to navigation in avoiding shipwrecks or grounding of ships. Traditional navigation aids include Light Vessels, Light Buoys, Beacons and Fog Signals such as bells, gongs, reed horns and explosives. These aids have been developed out of necessity over the ages.\n\nPharos\n\nOne of the oldest lighthouses was the Pharos at Alexandria, in",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g",
        "rank": 0
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    {
        "id": 215555,
        "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": 332,
        "title": "RAS-2001",
        "content_text": "282\n\nEgypt, which was built in the 3rd century B.C. - one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It was an eight-sided tower on top of which was a cylinder that extended up to an open cupola where the fire that provided the light burned. On the roof of the cupola was a large statue of Poseidon (the Greek God of the Sea and Earthquakes) facing the sea, northward. It was said ships could detect the light from the tower at night or the smoke from the fire during the day up to 100 miles away. The lighthouse collapsed in the 14th century, probably as the result of an earthquake. The remains of Pharos are now at the bottom of the Mediterranean. Its name, however, has become the root of the word \"lighthouse\" in the French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian languages.2\n\nModern navigation aids\n\nBy the 21st century traditional aids to navigation have already gradually taken over. These include satellite navigation systems in order to cope with the needs of high speed and the huge volume of modern sea transportation. Even more recent inventions like the Radio Beacon and the Decca Navigator System are now almost obsolete.\n\nThe Global Positioning System (GPS), provided by satellites, is now the primary position fixing system for marine navigation. A public Differential GPS service is able to enhance the accuracy of GPS signals to within 10 metres up to 50 nautical miles around the coasts off the United Kingdom and Ireland. This system assists the safe passage of all classes of vessels from cargo ships, cruise liners and fishing vessels to small yachts. As a back-up system to the GPS, chains of Loran C on land are also adopted.3\n\nNineteenth century Hong Kong\n\nIn Hong Kong, things were quite different. There was not much sea traffic going to China before the first Opium War (1839-42) because of the Chinese policy of keeping its doors closed to foreign trade. Canton (Guangzhou), in the Pearl River Delta, was the city where limited foreign trade was permitted under stringent conditions. Macao under Portuguese administration served well as a buffer for foreign merchants waiting for the start of the trading season. Only after the Treaties of Nanking, Peking and Tientsin (1842-1860) was China forced to open up more and more ports for trade. Hong Kong's Victoria harbour became",
        "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
    },
    {
        "id": 215585,
        "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": 362,
        "title": "RAS-2001",
        "content_text": "312\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHY INCLUDING WORKS CITED\n\nBanister, T Roger (1932), The Coastwise Lights of China, An Illustrated Account of the Chinese Maritime Customs Lights Service, Shanghai.\n\nBruce, Phillip (1990), Suggested Notes for Royal Asiatic Society Visit to Waglan Island.\n\nDyson, Anthony (1983), From Timeball to Atomic Clock, Hong Kong Government Publication.\n\nEndacott, G B (1958), A History of Hong Kong, Oxford University Press.\n\nA Gazetteer of Place Names in Hong Kong Kowloon and the New Territories (1960), Hong Kong Government Printer.\n\nHarrison, Paul (1999), East India Company Guns, letter and information to Author.\n\nHayes, James (1999, February 16), letter to Author.\n\nHong Kong 1962 (Year Book), Review, the Port of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Government.\n\nHong Kong Observatory (1999, February 26), letter from Director to Author.\n\nHong Kong Standard (1989 August 23), Lowering Flag for Last Time.\n\nJones, Kenneth Sutton (1985), Pharos: The Lighthouse Yesterday and Tomorrow, Sparton Press, UK.\n\nLack, AJ S (1999, April 19), letter to Author.\n\nLee, H C (undated), About Waglan Lighthouse, a paper, prepared by Hong Kong Government Marine Department.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g",
        "rank": 0
    }
]