This 1st September 1962 image of Hang Fung Shipping & Trading Company Limited’s vessel, the s.s.Tung Feng, taking on seawater off Little Green Island, appears in a Marine Department’s collection of photographs illustrating sea-going vessels, which had been left damaged in the wake of Typhoon Wanda.
This image of the s.s.Tung Feng, a vessel registered in Hong Kong, clearly shows the Hang Fung Shipping & Trading Company’s livery, comprising two narrow silver hoops positioned high up on a black funnel. Local merchant, Paul D. Alderton, was the Hong Kong manager of this Australian-owned shipping line, and he ran the business from a creaking but roomy floor of an old building situated near the Wanchai waterfront; and it was here that hopeful, prospective seamen, with papers in hand, came and went freely at all hours of the day.
The s.s.Tung Feng had previously been operated by the Australian National Line as the s.s.River Norman, originally going into service in 1946. During September 1959 this Australian registered vessel was sold to scrap metal merchants, Albert G Sims Limited of Sydney, Australia. It was subsequently despatched to Hong Kong where it was re-registered and renamed the s.s.Tung Feng, and eventually transferred to the Hang Fung Shipping and Trading Co. Ltd., Hong Kong in June 1960. Re-crewed with Australian officers and Hong Kong seamen, it was carrying general cargo between Hong Kong and Australia, before being caught up in Typhoon Wanda and subjected to tropical cyclone warning signal no.10 winds. In spite of being crewed with a complement of 44 officers and seamen, the s.s.Tung Feng dragged her anchors and was driven aground on Little Green Island. Listing to port and in danger of foundering, the vessel was in a perilous situation; and but for the heroic efforts of crewman Liu Wa-ming, matters could have become far worse.
In the aftermath of Typhoon Wanda the heroic Mr Liu was, in the presence of the ship’s Captain C.L. Wheeler and Paul D. Alderton D.S.C., manager of Hang Fung Shipping & Trading, deservedly awarded the Belilios Star in recognition of his act of gallantry in saving life at sea.
As for the steamer Tung Feng, she was refloated in Oct 1962 but declared a total loss. Hang Fung Shipping & Trading then sold the vessel on to Sigma Shipping Company Limited of Hong Kong for the purpose of being broken up to meet the demands of local steel mills for mild steel re-rollable scrap. This final phase in the Australian-built vessel’s short but checkered career commenced in December 1962, and most probably ended up contributing to the supply of reinforcing bars for a burgeoning construction industry.