This email arrived on Monday:
... we are looking for any arresting photo that one might want to frame and hang on a wall of a junk with or without the city in background that could be printed vertically in the size 8 x 10. If you send some examples that'd be great.
Easy, right? Junks are iconic images of Hong Kong so let me just turn to Gwulo's catalogue which ... has nothing suitable at all. Oops.
After a quick search through my collection, I've added these four photos, taken in the 1950s. First is my favourite, also the oldest:
In the background are Sheung Wan and mid-levels. You can get your bearings by looking for the tall building just peeping out from behind the left edge of the main sail. That's see the Central Fire Station, where the Hang Seng HQ building stands today.
Next is a much more peaceful scene:
Does anyone recognise the location from the skyline in the background?
These first two junks have very smart sets of sails, but often they were much more scruffy. There are plenty of holes in this one:
And the last one is in an even worse state:
When these photos were taken, sailing junks still made up the bulk of Hong Kong's fishing fleet. But the switch from sail to diesel was gathering pace.
The 1956 Annual Report says that around 15% of the fishing fleet (890 out of a fleet of over 6,000 junks) had been mechanized. By 1964 it had jumped to 65%, and by 1975 it had passed 90%.
I wonder if any readers know when the last working sailing junk (ie not a tourist boat) visited Hong Kong waters? I don't remember seeing any when I visited in 1989, but then I wasn't looking for them. What's the latest one that you remember?
Regards, David
Also on Gwulo.com this week:
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