Royal - HKU Libraries - The University of Hong Kong

... Mr. da Silva has resigned. . . but Dr. Doberck is a most illconditioned man and I have no doubt that this poor man found itimpossible to work under him.Doberck continued his battle to get more staff for theobservatory in 1892, this time on the basis that not enoughuse was being made of information from ships and shorestations:The total number of ships whose log books have been made useof was 270; the total number of days' observations was 5 278. . . The difficulty is . . . that no more than one of us at a timecan be spared for visiting ships in the harbour } and he can devoteonly half his hours of duty to work afloat. Every vessel enteringthe harbour ought to be boarded and every log book found to beproperly kept ought to be copied. That would be useful for stormwarnings. Unfortunately there is no prospect of additionalclerical help for a purpose so useful to the shipping as thisundoubtedly is. The immense bulk of records from stations onshore is not utilised for anything beyond investigations oftyphoons.The same year (1892) saw one new member added to theObservatory's staff, a person who was considered unlikely toresign because of any personality clash with Doberck. Shewas his sister, Annie. She was not new to the work, havingalready helped her brother for some years with the stormwarning service and liaison with shipping. Following herappointment as Meteorological Assistant, she continued herliaison duties, a task which led her to be known in the portas Typhoon Annie' or 'Sampan Annie.' London, which hadexpressed some doubts about Miss Doberck's formal qualificationsfor the post, finally approved the appointment, notingthat nearly 10 years earlier, Doberck had been refused permissionto appoint his housekeeper as one of his assistants:There need however be no objection to his sister beingappointed, and seeing that he is a difficult man for other peopleto get on with, and that his assistant is required to live with him,there is considerable advantage in selecting his sister, who is(I presume) already a member of his household.36