HMS Powerful was part of the China Station 1897-1899 according to its Wikipedia page so the photo is likely from this period. It was based in Fremantle 1905-1910 so possibly could of visited Hong Kong during this period.
However in 1902-03 an extensive refit was carried out adding 4 6inch guns amidships. There is a photo here showing these new guns. There is no sign of them on the ship in the drydock which means the picture is pre refit so likely the picture is of the ship sometime between 1897-1899.
Herostratus, thank you for this clarification. Interesting to see that the "20th Century Impressions" from 1908 used a photo that was already 10 years old. We should be careful about the dates of all photos from this publication when we post them on Gwulo.
Except for the movement of people on the ground, a similar photo of HMS Powerful taken on the same day appears in "The Navy And Army Illustrated" dated 7 January 1899. Have dated mine to 1898.
(Update)
"During the last few days, ever since the Powerful went into dock at Kowloon, large crowd of interested visitors have made the pilgrimage to Hunghom Village to see the monster cruiser in dock.........." See here
Comments
photo from c.1907
The photo appeared in the 20th Century Impressions from 1908 on page 193.
HMS Powerful was part of the…
HMS Powerful was part of the China Station 1897-1899 according to its Wikipedia page so the photo is likely from this period. It was based in Fremantle 1905-1910 so possibly could of visited Hong Kong during this period.
However in 1902-03 an extensive refit was carried out adding 4 6inch guns amidships. There is a photo here showing these new guns. There is no sign of them on the ship in the drydock which means the picture is pre refit so likely the picture is of the ship sometime between 1897-1899.
Re: Date of the photo
Herostratus, thank you for this clarification. Interesting to see that the "20th Century Impressions" from 1908 used a photo that was already 10 years old. We should be careful about the dates of all photos from this publication when we post them on Gwulo.
Re: Date of Photo
Except for the movement of people on the ground, a similar photo of HMS Powerful taken on the same day appears in "The Navy And Army Illustrated" dated 7 January 1899. Have dated mine to 1898.
(Update)
"During the last few days, ever since the Powerful went into dock at Kowloon, large crowd of interested visitors have made the pilgrimage to Hunghom Village to see the monster cruiser in dock.........." See here
Source: China Mail dated 1 November 1898