13.07.2015 Views

Royal - HKU Libraries - The University of Hong Kong

Royal - HKU Libraries - The University of Hong Kong

Royal - HKU Libraries - The University of Hong Kong

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

<strong>The</strong> typhoon <strong>of</strong> Saturday September 2nd will be longremembered for the widespread destruction caused on shore andin the harbour <strong>of</strong> Victoria, As we mentioned on Saturdayevening, the barometer had been steadily falling during the dayand the inevitable gusty signs <strong>of</strong> the storm's fury had even thenbegun to show themselves. Fortunately, the warnings thus givenwere noted and acted upon by many, and the list <strong>of</strong> casualties istherefore smaller than it might otherwise have been. Still, therecord <strong>of</strong> destruction is much fuller than could be desired; and itis matter for regret that more heed is not taken by those interested<strong>of</strong> the warnings so clearly and unmistakeably given . .. Since1862 - the hurricane which swept away nearly the entire boatpopulation <strong>of</strong> Canton - nothing like the grand exhibition <strong>of</strong>wild destruction has been seen here as that which greeted the fewstaggering visitants <strong>of</strong> the Bund on Saturday night. In 1848,there was no Pray a to wash away, and no retaining wall to getwrecked upon; but on this occasion the dark scene <strong>of</strong> havoc willlong remain engraved on the minds <strong>of</strong> many.Three years later there is evidence that the Chinesepopulation was better than the European settlers at forecastingthe approach <strong>of</strong> a storm. On Thursday, 24 September1874, the <strong>Hong</strong> <strong>Kong</strong> Daily Press reported, under the heading'Terrific Typhoon':On Tuesday night and yesterday morning <strong>Hong</strong> <strong>Kong</strong> wasvisited by the most awful typhoon which has ever been recordedin the history <strong>of</strong> the Colony. <strong>The</strong> weather during the day hadbeen threatening) the barometer having fallen very considerablyduring the forenoon and still remaining low in the evening ...in the course <strong>of</strong> an hour it was evident that a typhoon <strong>of</strong> a severecharacter was to be apprehended and this proved too soon to bethe case. <strong>The</strong> Chinese had, as usual, during the Tuesdayanticipated the danger and the sampans and junks cleared out inlarge numbers to seek shelter. Some doubts were however feltamong foreigners as to whether there would be more than a gale,though the preponderating opinion on Tuesday evening wasthat a typhoon was to be anticipated. In fact the indications were97

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!