RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h
256

Monday, March 11th

Breakfast at half past eight. Walk on deck. The deck is a very convenient place, and being high, and clean, and quiet, forms a nice walk to and fro. Only the captain and passengers, and chief mate have any business on the deck. In hot weather we shall have an awning spread over, and it will be very pleasant. At present it is too cold to sit; the wind being very keen.

At ten we were under weigh, and rounded the North Foreland, and were off Deal in almost no time. The ship is a fast sailor, and far surpassed all the other ships that were going out with us. Just as she came to the cross tides she began to roll very much, and shortly after, my headache increased, and I had my first turn at sickness, though it was not seasickness, nor anything like it. We anchored off Deal, and could have a fine view of the town and of all the coast of Kent. I put my room in order, and made it tolerably comfortable.

Tuesday, March 12th

Rose early and had a walk on deck. The wind unfavorable, sea rough, and no sign of making a move. However the wind shifted, and we made for the Downs where was quite a crowd of shipping, waiting for favorable wind. So we came to anchor among them, and remained all day. I have now become more reconciled to my berth, and hope soon to feel myself quite at home.

Today Capt. Moate came on board. He is to be my fellow passenger for the journey. If I had to select a companion for the voyage I should not have chosen him. He would do very well for a fast young man, but not for me. There will be little sympathy between us during the voyage.

Wednesday, March 13th

Today the wind shifting we followed the example of our neighbours, and made a start. It was mid-day before we could get fairly off. At last off we went, past Dover, Folkestone, and poor old Hythe.3 My thoughts and feelings as we went along, however, I shall not attempt to describe, since they are indescribable. We were soon round Dungeness, and up to Beachy Head; when about midnight the wind
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RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g
291

PART TWO

Ships that pass in the night, and speak to each other in passing;

Only a signal shown and a distant voice in the darkness:

So on the ocean of life we pass and speak to one another,

Only a look and a voice; then darkness again and a silence.

Introduction and aims of Part Two

With the rapid advancement of technology, especially since World War Two, many trades and professions have been severely affected and, in some cases, phased out altogether. Horses were replaced as draught animals by motor vehicles. Electronic sciences and automation have drastically altered our world. Lighthouses have also been affected, as we have seen above by the relentless march of progress, including by such inventions as radar surveillance, Loran and other shipboard navigation aids.26

The Trinity House automation programme in Britain involved the conversion of 60 lighthouses and lightvessels to automatic operation and the withdrawal of keepers (Navigation News; 1998). The last manned lighthouse in the United Kingdom was the North Foreland Lighthouse which withdrew keepers on 26 November, 1998. This ended the profession of lighthouse keeping in Britain with a history of nearly 400 years. It dated back to 1609 when Trinity House opened its first lighthouse at Lowestoft, in eastern England.

Hong Kong's first lighthouse, as we have seen, set up at Cape D'Aguilar, commenced operations in 1875 (Endacott; 1958, 163). But the Territory, too, has followed the trend to automation. Waglan Island (sometimes spelt Wang Lan) Lighthouse withdrew keepers in August 1989 (Gazetteer; 1960, 108).27

The aims of Part Two of this paper are to look largely at the men who manned Hong Kong's lighthouses. What sort of people were they? What kind of life did they lead and under what conditions did they work? In a letter to the author, Royal Asiatic Society (Hong Kong Branch) member A. J. S. Lack,28 who served as Deputy Director of Marine in Hong Kong in the early 1980s, wrote (Lack; 1999):
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