The Tweed (gunboat) and Tweed Bay in Stanley | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

The Tweed (gunboat) and Tweed Bay in Stanley

The Tweed (gunboat) and Tweed Bay in Stanley
Submitted by maidestone

I have often pondered upon the origin of the name Tweed Bay in Stanley. Could it be named after the gunboat Tweed mentioned in the Governor's report of 1894?

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Submitted by David on Mon, 2012-01-09 12:55.

I had a quick look in the Mapping Hong Kong book to see if that gives any clues:

  • Plate 2-1. 1845 Collinson's Map: No names in that area, just 'Tytam Bay' for the much larger bay.
  • Plate 2-4. 1888 Stanfords Map: As above
  • Plate 2-5. 1895 Revised 'Collinson' Map: No mention of Tweed bay, but the small island there is labelled 'Tweed Isd.'

So, nothing there to contradict your gunboat idea.

Have you searched for 'Tweed' in the newspapers / legco / HKGRO, to see if there is any pre-1894 use of the name?

Regards, David

Submitted by maidestone on Tue, 2012-01-10 01:56.

Thank you, David, for your comment.

Tried HKGRO but there was  no return for the name 'Tweed.'

It is curious how none of the old maps I could access featured the name 'Tweed Bay.' Perhaps the name was never official?

Submitted by stephenD on Fri, 2014-09-05 15:52.

Named after HMS Tweed, a 'tender' attached initially to HMS Victor Emanuel, later to HMS Tamar, on whom her officers were nominally borne, and used for hydrographic surveying under Lt JW Combe RN (with Lt WE Oliver RN and Mr W Branch, Gunner RN) in the early 1890s. She surveyed Tai Tam Bay in 1893-1894, producing the utterly lovely large scale chart (BA380) published in 1894, which stayed in print with only one large correction (1961) until 1965.

The Tweed was a Medina class barquentine rigged flatiron gunboat, built c.1876/77 and sold out of service in HK on 21 November 1905 (her sister ship Esk had been sold in HK too in April 1903). Most of the earlier Rendel flatiron gunboats were as their name implies - ugly lumps of iron. The Medinas were unusual in being fully rigged for auxiliary sail with the result as historian Anthony Preston puts it, that they were 'the most grotesque craft ever seen'. By the time the Tweed was in HK the auxilary barquentine rig had gone and she was rigged with two ple masts without sails.

The Medinas were 363 tons, 110 ft 0 in (33.5 m) loa, 34 ft 1 in (10.4 m) in beam, 9 ft 6 in (2.9 m) in draft and 5 ft 6 in (1.7 m) moulded depth. They had a 60 nominal, 310 ihp (230 kW), 2 x 2-cylinder horizontal, single expansion steam engines driving twin screws. They were armed (by the time of the survey) with two 4.7" QF guns, had a complement of 51 and could steam at 9.5 knots.

Submitted by Admin on Fri, 2014-09-05 16:43.

Thanks Stephen, mystery solved!

Submitted by 80sKid on Sat, 2014-09-06 16:52.
Isaac Upjohn was a crew member on the ship and is buried in the colonial cemetery; died during a typhoon in July 1891. Photo here: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=23970537 further reading here about the Medina class: http://www.academia.edu/4179253/The_Meyers_Boatyard_Vessel_Part_1_The_Hi...

Submitted by 80sKid on Sat, 2014-09-06 17:28.
interesting history about HMS Tweed's surgeon Dr Percy Lord who died of pneumonia on Takao (now Kaohsiung) on Taiwan aged 29. He was buried at the foreign cemetery there on June 8, 1895 and may still be there somewhere, long forgotten. LInks: http://red.kcg.gov.tw/upload_file/publish1/paper4.pdf (see page 124 in English) http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes18... http://www.takaoclub.com/graveyard/ http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&GScid=2180504&GRid=1476...

Submitted by elphashea on Thu, 2021-06-24 23:29.

I have a 1/1250 model of the gunboat.