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Green island

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Green island
Submitted by David

I took this from Victoria Road this morning. As I was walking along I noticed that the building for Green Island searchlight #2 can be seen down at the left edge of the island. It looks to have its iron shutters still in place.

Date picture taken (may be approximate): 
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Gallery: 
2010s Hong Kong photos
Connections: 
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Comments

Submitted by moddsey on Thu, 2014-09-11 06:40.

Just wondering - is the other searchlight below  the former lighthouse keeper's quarters as seen here ?

Submitted by Dave W on Thu, 2014-09-11 16:37.

David,

Expand your first photograph above and then look into the trees just above the structure that you mention - (may still be shuttered).

There is an identical concrete slab roof and a smigeon of wall showing. Look hard and you will see it.

In the late 1990's I talked with a man who had been in the RNR in HK post war and he once mentioned that circa 1949 the Government / Military were worried about the Communists invading Hong Kong via the sea lanes. As a result naval booms were laid to prevent willy-nilly access to the harbour.

In support of these booms there must have been landside anchorage points and vessels to open and close the booms. I suspect that somewhere along the line the searchlights must have had a supporting role to illuminate the booms at nightime.

This contribution may expand the study into the searchlight aspect.

Submitted by David on Fri, 2014-09-12 17:10.

Moddsey,

Do you mean the building just above the boat in your photo? I think that's the same one we see in this photo, searchlight #2.

Dave,

Well spotted, I hadn't noticed that building in the trees. It may well be the other searchlight, but we'd need to get a closer look to be sure.

Interesting to hear about the booms in 1949. I hadn't heard of those before - hopefully other readers can tell us more about them, and whether any of the searchlight sites were re-used at that time.

Regards, David

Submitted by moddsey on Sat, 2014-09-13 07:01.

Yes, I was referring to the larger structure just above and to the left of the wheelhouse of the boat. From later comments received, perhaps not.

 I have seen photos of the booms at Lyemun from the 1940s. Here is the website.

1937 Harbour Boom

1937 Harbour Boom

Submitted by David on Sun, 2014-09-14 22:11.

That's an interesting read about the indicator loops.

A search for boom at HKGRO turns up several announcements from 1939-41 advising shipping how to pass though the boom, eg

http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkgro/view/G1939/599695.pdf

Regards, David