General View of Hong Kong

Tue, 06/18/2024 - 22:43

Vue générale de Hong Kong et de son port. On repère quelques bâtiments connus de la ville sur cette photographie : tout à gauche, sur plusieurs rangées, les Victoria Barracks (域多利軍營) ; au milieu, un peu en retrait, la Headquarter House (de nos jours Flagstaff House, 茶具文物館) ; à droite, également en retrait, la cathédrale Saint-Jean-l'Évangéliste de Hong Kong (聖約翰座堂) ; devant cette dernière, le bâtiment de l'ancienne mission française de Hong Kong (前法國外方傳道會大樓) puis l'ancien hôtel de ville (舊香港大會堂) ; à côté de ce dernier, le premier bâtiment de la HSBC (滙豐總行大廈). La HSBC occupant la Wardley House sur ce cliché, cette photographie a probablement été prise avant 1886, date à laquelle ce bâtiment est détruit. Le tirage de cette photographie est quant à lui peut-être postérieur à 1886 si Dumoulin l'a acheté lors de ses voyages entre 1888 et 1897.

General view of Hong Kong and its port. We can see some well-known buildings in the city in this photograph: on the far left, in several rows, the Victoria Barracks (域多利軍營); in the middle, a little behind, the Headquarter House (nowadays Flagstaff House, 茶具文物館); on the right, also in the background, the Cathedral of Saint John the Evangelist of Hong Kong (聖約翰座堂); in front of the latter, the building of the former French mission of Hong Kong (前法國外方傳道會大樓) then the old city hall (舊香港大會堂); next to the latter, the first HSBC building (滙豐總行大廈). HSBC occupying Wardley House in this photo, this photograph was probably taken before 1886, when this building was destroyed. The print of this photograph is perhaps after 1886 if Dumoulin bought it during his travels between 1888 and 1897.

Source: Fonds ASEMI, Université Côte d'Azur, see https://humazur.univ-cotedazur.fr/s/humazur/ark:/17103/c21n

Date picture taken
1880s

Comments

Sure, however, I would like to state, for the record, that I didn't add that one in the first place 😁

For the record, it was my mistake. 😁 I was too quick and missed the fact that the ship didn't have masts. But we don't give up that easily on Gwulo!

David posted some time ago a list a navy's hulks stationed in Hong Kong. The ship on the photo should be on the list, and it is. It's HMS Meanee.

Launch of HMS Meanee 80 guns at Bombay
Launch of HMS Meanee 80 guns at Bombay , by Klaus

The ship was used from 1870 (possibly from 1867 already) onwards as a floating hospital in Hong Kong. The ship was broken up in 1906. So finally identified.

However, this information does not help narrowing the time span for the original photo.