Attempts to settle on shore

After it had landed at Hong Kong off Possession Point (Possession Street today) on 25 January 1841, the Royal Navy immediately tried to find a suitable place to build its defence works. The first naval store sheds were set up at West Point, and were headed by Thomas McKnight until 1849. The fever at the end of May 1843 took away the lives of many Navy officers in Sai Ying Pun, including Sir H. le Fleming Senhouse, while the typhoon on 21 July washed away the mat-sheds. These occurrences forced the Royal Navy back to its “home” – the warships. HMS Minden was, for instance, used as a hospital, and was known as the “receiving ship”.^[28]

Setting up the Naval Dockyard: military considerations outweighing economic considerations

When it became evident that proper barracks needed to be constructed, the Board of Ordnance in London selected Major Edward Aldrich to be the first commander of the Royal Engineers in Hong Kong.

The land allocated to the military, as described by Major Aldrich, stretched from present-day Cheung Kong Centre in the west to present-day Pacific Place in the east. On the other hand, Sir Henry Pottinger was looking at the land from an economic perspective. He assigned A. T. Gordon, the Land Officer, to prepare another town planning report on 6 July 1843 and asked Major Aldrich to consider the report. Of course, Major Aldrich refused to compromise on his military plans. Pottinger termed the central part of the city the “Ordnance Ground” in his reply. Although his struggle for this “golden land” failed, his last letter from Hong Kong nevertheless addressed the subject:“In conclusion I repeat that the whole matter is one in which I have but a single object, the good of the Colony – Even should Major Aldrich’s plans be ordered to be carried out, I shall not, I trust, be here to see them acted on, and, therefore, no one can possibly offer a more disinterested opinion.”^[29]

In 1858, the Naval Dockyard only had a primitive landing pier (Admiralty today), and had yet to be developed into a complete dockyard. The barracks were a self-contained army village, with a hospital, church, stores and quarters. Though the settlement of the Navy on shore was successful, as the city grew, the central part of the city became an eyesore for both the local government and the merchant community for nearly a century.

In the Navy List for 1859, there was an entry for Hong Kong under H.M. Victualling Yards and Dockyards. Victualling yards were used for the storage of dry goods and stuffs, whilst dockyards responsible for storing all the machinery and spare parts necessary to maintain and repair ships. In those days, there were a few patent slips along the northern coast, but they were for private ships. However, from 1860 onwards, the Aberdeen Docks reserved a place for the maintenance and repair of warships. This reduced the willingness of the Royal Navy to build its own dock.

On 2 March 1858, Captain W.K. Hall of HMS Calcutta pointed out that the Kowloon Peninsula would provide much needed sea-frontage, and that Stonecutter’s Island could be useful as a quarantine area and for strengthening the defences of the island, thus suggesting that the naval yard should move to a site on the mainland.^[30] When the British took over Kowloon in 1860, there was four-way correspondence between the Admiralty, the War Office, the Colonial Office and the Hong Kong government concerning land usage on the Kowloon Peninsula, resulting in three reports being submitted to the Home Office. The question of balance between military and commercial usage was once more addressed by the British Government. For the second time, the military won the biggest share of the land, following deliberations that dragged on for four years. The Kowloon Naval Yard (in present-day Tsim Sha Tsui) was then established.

Development of the Naval Dockyard: conflict between military and commercial interests

On 18 April 1871, Sir Henry Kellett wrote home applying for an extension of the naval dockyard along the existing frontage, an extension that would include a wooden pier and a slip. The works were approved and completed.

A typhoon in 1874 blew the gunboat HMS Flamer onto the Police Force’s bath-house and the Rowing Club’s boat-house in the west of the dockyard. When the Governor, Sir Arthur Edward Kennedy, proposed the re-construction of the praya, the Surveyor General, J. M. Price, rightly pointed out that the city was being strangled at its waist by the dockyard. As the area in front of the dockyard was severely silted, Price suggested that the land be reclaimed, with a curved road to reduce silting, a basin for loading and re-loading vessels, and a swing bridge to allow larger ships to go in and out.^[31] The proposal was eventually dismissed due to a disagreement over cost-sharing, with the Admiralty unwilling to pay two-thirds of the cost.^[32]

Attempts to relocate the Naval Dockyard

The first attempt to move the Naval Dockyard was made in September 1881, when Colonel Crossman wrote to the Governor, Sir John Pope Hennessy, proposing its relocation to Causeway Bay. However, the Admiralty declined the suggestion in March 1882. The junction of the Eastern and Western Praya was brought up again, by the Governor Sir George Ferguson Bowen, on 27 June 1883 as a result of sanitary works recommended by the retired Sanitary Engineer, Osbert Chadwick.

Based on Price’s previous proposal, Governor Bowen requested that the Naval and Military Departments pay one-third of the construction cost, at the rate of £10,000 a year over three years. However, the military put forward a counter-proposal for the reclamation, which put the cost up to £64,000. In January 1885, the reclamation work was agreed, but with the proposed road deferred.

On 17 August 1885, Commodore George Digby Morant of HMS Victor Emanuel, requested the extension of the naval yard in Kowloon. Unfortunately, the cost of the land could not be settled, as the Hong Kong government insisted on calculating it at the current market value. The Admiralty abandoned the plan on 7 April 1886.

As there was space on the west coast of Kowloon, the idea of moving the Naval Dockyard from Hong Kong Island to Kowloon was raised on 8 June 1887. This time, the Hong Kong government took the initiative, with the support of Commodore Morant. However, on 5 November 1887, the Admiralty replied that the “dockyard at Kowloon being more open to view from seaward than that at Hong Kong would not be nearly so secure from bombardment…and we are thus unable to entertain the proposal.”^[33]

On 13 July 1887, C. P. Chater^[34] wrote to the Acting Colonial Secretary, F. Stewart, proposing the “Praya Reclamation Scheme”. Five days later, Price, who had been involved with development of the naval yard since Governor Kennedy’s time, wrote a report that neatly summarised the situation:

“The continuation of the Praya along the foreshore in front of the Naval Yard and Military Cantonments has been attempted by every Governor since the days of Sir Richard MacDonnell. Each Governor has failed and these failures are deplored in the Colony as public calamities. It is felt that a great and populous city like Victoria should not continue to be subjected year after year to such a grievous hindrance to its progress…The attitude of indifference, if not disfavour, to the Praya junction scheme adopted by the Admiralty is however readily intelligible, for Naval interest will derive no marked financial benefit from the scheme.” ^[35]

It is clear that the Hong Kong government was looking at the development of the dockyard purely from an economic perspective, whilst the military was judging it from a military point of view.

Although in December 1891 Admiral Frederick William Richards proposed a naval concession – the widening and straightening of Queen’s Road -- it was finally overruled by Admiral Alexander Buller in November 1895.

On 2 April 1896, the Admiralty confirmed that the extension of the Naval Dockyard was on the drawing board, and it also agreed to widen Queen’s Road.^[36] In 1897, the Naval Act was revised to include the item, “Hong Kong Dockyard Extension”, with funds made available for its construction.