Kowloon Wharves

The folks below I believe were seeing their relatives and friends off to foreign lands.  This reminds me of that day long time ago when I held my streamer, and at the other end was a girl about my age who caught it.  We held it for quite sometime while looking at each other.  My ship for San Francisco sailed out after sunset but it was still possible to see the then mostly dark and undeveloped northeast shores of HK Island.  Since then, I have at times paused to wonder where she is now.  Thanks. 

Hi Peter,

One or two of my colleagues who  left Hong Kong by troopship, told me that the last sight they had of any buildings was of (their) R.A.F. camp at Little Sai Wan and the Cape Collinson lighthouse.  They were quite sad to be going back to England.

I wonder when the tradition of throwing and catching paper streamers died out. As a young boy I used to visit a dock in Hull, England, where departing passengers on the old steamer the Melrose Abbey, outward bound for Rotterdam, would do the same thing. Once a brass band on the ship, played as she pulled away.  The call of the sea!  It was nearly enough to make me think of becoming a sailor!

Whenever I look at my old photographs of Hong Kong, I wonder how the people on them fared in life, especially the children.  I hope that life was kind and that one day people might comment on Gwulo that they recognise themselves. Andrew

Looks like a Taikoo Dockyard launch nuzzling into the wharf. Probably had brought a dockyard family embarking for home leave, or retirement, plus friends and colleagues - it was a common practice to then race down the harbour to Lyemun Pass, in close range of the departing ship - Geoff Wellstead 

Hi Andrew, thank you for sharing your thoughts about Hong Kong and her people., and your times and photos which always make one interesting reading.

The President Wilson liner I took ended its passenger service and was sold in 1973. Given that Ocean Terminal opened for business in March 1966 on the same site, my 1964 streamer experience was among the last of the streamer events at the pier. Perhaps the big ships used other piers, but I think the tradition was fading out gradually starting the 1960s.

During my time in Hong Kong, whenever I was taking a cross-harbour ferry, stepping from beach onto a row boat, and walking from the gangway into President Wilson Liner, I always looked at the water below. That moment, though short, was always special. This must be a part of the sea, the start of the water that would take me to places near and far.

Kobe Band Welcoming Passeger Ship (1960), by OldTimer

I have long forgotten this scene, until two weeks ago when I found this photo on the internet. This band greeted us when our President Wilson liner came to dock at the Kobe harbour. Seeing again this scene from part of my life long time ago is a feeling of gratitude and appreciation. Your many photos here, I am sure, are also much appreciated by many readers. Regards, Peter

President Wilson Liner (1948-1973), by OldTimer

Hi Peter,

In 1957/8, while admiring the view from our balcony at Little Sai Wan we sometimes saw one of the President Line ships passing across the mouth of the bay.  They always looked clean and elegant. There were several President liners but as far as I can remember it was the President Wilson that we tended to see.  I believe that the President Line had regular fortnightly(?) sailings to and from Japan, but presumably most of the voyages started and ended in San Fransisco.  The South China Morning Post always carried, in advance, detailed arrival and departure dates for ships from and to all parts of the World, probably to warn businesses to get their goods organised in time. I used to peruse the paper to see what was arriving from where.  I'm sorry to say that, about ten years ago, I threw away several old papers containing such information.

On a different note to the picture of the band (please excuse the pun), most troopships sailing to and from the Far East would call in at Durban in South Africa. From the early days of the war right up to February 1971 the lady in white (Perla Siedle Gibson) always would go down to the harbour where she would serenade the servicemen, singing through an old fashioned megaphone.  She became world famous and there is now a statue of her on the docks there. Sorry, not really about Hong Kong but a memory that many servicemen stationed in Hong Kong would treasure.  

Regards, Andrew