[
    {
        "id": 215561,
        "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": 338,
        "title": "RAS-2001",
        "content_text": "288\n\nCape Collinson Lighthouse\n\nThe light at Cape Collinson was established on 1st March 1876, the year following the other two lighthouses. The reason for being later was that its apparatus was mistakenly sent to the Cape of Good Hope. The illuminating apparatus was fixed Dioptric of the Sixth Order. The focal plane of the light was 200 feet above mean sea level, and in clear weather it could be seen for a distance of eight miles. This lighthouse showed a white light on the bearings from N. 22 W. by East to S. 22 E. Ships heading for Victoria Harbour from the North and the Eastward were thus able to avoid Bokhara and Tathong Rocks, also the rocks outlying Sy Wan Bay by keeping the white light in sight. It also showed a red light from S. 22 E. by West to N. 22 W.20\n\nWhen all three lighthouses were first in operation, vessels entering Hong Kong harbour were adequately provided with navigational aids. Gradually, as time passed, lighthouses were required to display their own distinguishing characteristics and to repeat these at shorter intervals for more frequent observation as the speeds of steamships increased. In the beginning of the 20th century an 18-knot ship could travel over a quarter of a mile every minute. The older optics that revolved at the speed of four minutes per revolution were replaced by new ones revolving at 15 or 20 seconds. This was made possible by floating the lantern in a mercury bath causing it to revolve with minimum friction. This new technique was installed in lighthouses built in the 1890s.\n\nNew lighthouses\n\nIn 1892 and 1893, after much discussion and negotiation between Hong Kong and China, lighthouses were built on the two best sites initially chosen to light the approaches to Hong Kong: namely on Gap Rock and Waglan.\n\nAs early as 1867, before the building of the first lighthouse in Hong Kong, Commander Reed, a naval surveyor, was instructed to investigate suitable locations for lighthouses to cover the port approaches. He proposed Waglan Island and Gap Rock, small islands to the south of Hong Kong Island en route to Singapore. However, as neither of the proposed locations was within Hong Kong waters, these recommendations were not pursued.21",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 216166,
        "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-2002",
        "page_number": 465,
        "title": "RAS-2002",
        "content_text": "A NOTE ON THE JAPANESE GUN EMPLACEMENT AT TATHONG POINT, TUNG LUNG CHAU\n\nROBERT HORSNELL\n\n399\n\nAt Tathong Point, also known as Nam Tong Mei, a small rocky peninsular at the extreme southern tip of Tung Lung Island, there still exists the remains of a little known war-time Japanese gun emplacement. Its purpose was probably to protect the south-eastern approaches to Victoria Harbour. This gun emplacement is not mentioned in the book Ruins of War by Tim Ko and Jason Wordie and is not listed in the Gazetteer of the Batteries of the Fixed Defences of Hong Kong in Denis Rollo's book The Guns and Gunners of Hong Kong, although Rollo does mention an observation post for the Devil's Peak Battery at the southern end of Tung Lung Island built in 1935/36. From information in an old Public Works Department file it appears that the gun emplacement was built by the Japanese during the Occupation (1941-1945).\n\nIn 1965, the gun emplacement was converted by the Public Works Department's Architectural Office into an engine room for the Marine Department's Tathong Point Lighthouse Station to house the electric marine light, foghorn engines, light standby engine and switchboard. The staff quarters adjacent to the engine room were built later in 1973/74 to replace the old lighthouse keeper's quarters built in 1949 lower down near the jetty and landing stage. The old vacated quarters were used as stores for some time then later demolished. The remains of the concrete platforms on which these old buildings were built can still be seen amongst the rocks.\n\nFrom the original P.W.D. drawings for the conversion works, it is possible to learn something about the construction of the gun emplacement. It was built of concrete with a floor area of about 40 square metres. The walls are about one metre thick but the roof is much thicker especially over the rear part which contained the expense magazines. The chamber which housed the gun consists of a rectangular room with a semi-circular bow front in which the wide angle embrasure for the gun was formed. The armament is not known but from the size of the gun embrasure it was probably a large coastal defence gun.\n\nPage 465\n\nPage 466",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278",
        "rank": 0
    }
]