ENG-1962 — Page 47

REVIEW

25

indeed, there appears to have been no attempt to carry out any maintenance whatever of essential port facilities such as naviga- tional aids, wharves, godowns and dockyards. At the end of the war the harbour was in chaos, with 13 major and 95 minor wrecks sunk in various places. No navigational lights were functioning and of the 48 Government mooring buoys in use in the harbour in 1941, only two remained. During attacks on the Colony and its subsequent occupation 35 cross-harbour ferries were lost, sunk or seriously damaged, and only five remained on skeleton services at the time of the Japanese surrender. The Hongkong and Yaumati Ferry Company's passenger and vehicle ferries were found in Macau, Canton and areas of the West River, 300 miles from Hong Kong. All were in various stages of damage and dis- repair, some with their engines dismantled or their hulls partly submerged. Salvage craft were hired from the Royal Navy, together with salvage experts and crews, and work began immediately on clearing the dockyards, wharves and fairways of wrecks. By April 1946 several major wrecks had been shifted to sites in the harbour where they no longer caused obstruction.

To re-establish the Government's marine services in the waters of the Colony 162 vessels of various types were made available by the British Ministry of Transport and were allocated to the Hong Kong Police, fire brigade, port health and sanitary departments, and the harbour office. Several vessels of the pre-war Government fleet were found at Canton and were returned to the Colony, where they were repaired and returned to service by the staff of the Government slipway at Yau Ma Tei.

The lighthouse section of the harbour office also quickly re- habilitated itself and all navigational lights, with the exception of Gap Rock and Lantau, were operating again by April 1946. As most of the lighthouse equipment had been destroyed or badly damaged during the occupation, complete new light installations had to be fitted at most lighthouses. In addition the lighthouse tower and staff quarters at Waglan had to be partly rebuilt as they had been badly damaged by Allied air action during the war.

The port control office obtained buoys and other mooring com- ponents during the last months of 1945 and by April of the follow- ing year 75 per cent of the original number had been relaid and were in use by ships calling at the port. The various dockyard