
Taikoo Dockyard and Engineering Company () was a
dockyard
A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes more involve ...
in what is now
Taikoo Shing
Taikoo Shing or Tai Koo Shing (), is a private residential development in Quarry Bay, in the eastern part of Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. It is a part of Swire's property business, along with Taikoo Place, the adjacent Cityplaza retail and off ...
,
MTR
The Mass Transit Railway system, known locally by the initialism MTR, is a rapid transit system in Hong Kong and the territory's principal mode of Rail transport in Hong Kong, railway transportation. Operated by the MTR Corporation (MTRCL), ...
Tai Koo station
Tai Koo () is a station on the of the Hong Kong MTR system. The station is located in Kornhill, Quarry Bay on Hong Kong Island and serves the area including Kornhill, Kornhill Gardens and Taikoo Shing. Tai Koo has a unique crimson livery.
T ...
and part of
Taikoo Place of
Quarry Bay
Quarry Bay is an List of buildings, sites, and areas in Hong Kong, area beneath Mount Parker (Hong Kong), Mount Parker in the Eastern District, Hong Kong, Eastern District of Hong Kong Island, in Hong Kong. Quarry Bay is bordered by Sai Wan Ho ...
on the
Hong Kong Island
Hong Kong Island () is an island in the southern part of Hong Kong. The island, known originally and on road signs simply as "Hong Kong", had a population of 1,289,500 and a population density of , . It is the second largest island in Hong Kon ...
in
Hong Kong
Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
. It predates the era before the reclamation of
Victoria Harbour
Victoria Harbour is a natural landform harbor, harbour in Hong Kong separating Hong Kong Island in the south from the Kowloon Peninsula to the north. It acts as both a major trading hub and tourist attraction of Hong Kong in general. Lying in ...
.
History

The idea that
John Swire and Sons should have their own dockyard in Hong Kong to service, repair, adapt and build vessels for
The China Navigation Company was first put forward when the
Sugar Refinery
A sugar refinery is a refinery which processes raw sugar from cane or sugar extracted from beets into white refined sugar.
Cane sugar mills traditionally produce raw sugar, which is sugar that still contains molasses, giving it color ...
was established at Quarry Bay and surplus land remained on that site. The suggestion was made several times in the late 19th century but was opposed by
John Samuel Swire as uneconomic and too far outside their usual interests.
The need, however, for adequate, reliable and easily available overhaul facilities in the East increased and the dockyard was eventually begun in 1900–01 at Quarry Bay. It was registered in Britain with John Swire & Sons appointed as London Managers, Butterfield & Swire Eastern Managers and
Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company
Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company Limited, often referred to simply as Scotts, was a Scottish shipbuilding company based in Greenock on the River Clyde. In its time in Greenock, Scotts built over 1,250 ships.
History
John Scott f ...
as expert advisers.
The first ship for CNCo was built by 1910, but it was 16 years before there was a profit on the working account and 20 before a dividend was declared. The dockyard's chief competitor was the Hong Kong and Whampoa Dock Company from whom the new firm faced considerable hostility for many years until a working agreement was reached between them in 1913.
Beginning in
colonial Hong Kong
Hong Kong was under British rule from 1841 to 1997, except for a brief period of Japanese occupation during World War II from 1941 to 1945. It was a crown colony of the United Kingdom from 1841 to 1981, and a dependent territory from 1981 to ...
,
Whampoa Dockyard Company and "Taikoo Dockyard and Engineering Company" were crucial for the economy. Together with the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, these two docks in Hong Kong built the largest ships in the world in that era.
Simultaneously, China had multiple dockyards such as Shanghai Dock and Engineering Company in 1906, Tung Hwa Shipbuilding Works in 1910 and the Shanghai Dockyards Ltd in 1937.
[ Though Hong Kong's dockyards always gave the British complete freedom in ship construction.
In the 1930s, ]Shanghai
Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...
experienced difficult times through events such as the Battle of Shanghai
The Battle of Shanghai ( zh, t=淞滬會戰, s=淞沪会战, first=t, p=Sōng hù huìzhàn) was a major battle fought between the Empire of Japan and the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China in the Chinese city of Shanghai during ...
in the Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part ...
. Hong Kong's Taikoo Dockyard continued its own government training schools, which were later superseded by Hong Kong's Technical College.
By the Second World War other countries finally began building larger ships than Hong Kong.[
In 1940 the British company went into voluntary liquidation so that a new one could be opened and registered in Hong Kong and the dockyard continued to expand after the Second World War despite the destruction caused by the Japanese in their occupation in 1942–45.
The ]Swire Group
Swire Group ( zh, t=太古集團) is a highly diversified global conglomerate with its parent company being John Swire & Sons Limited that holds controlling stakes in a range of businesses trading in the UK, USA, Australia, Papua New Guinea, ...
subsequently decided to use the land to develop a large private housing estate
A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex, housing development, subdivision or community) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country.
Popular through ...
, Taikoo Shing. Closing in the early 1970s,[
] the operation later merged with Whampoa Dockyard of Hutchison Whampoa
Hutchison Whampoa Limited (HWL) was an investment holding company based in Hong Kong. It was a Fortune Global 500 company and one of the largest companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. HWL was an international corporation with a dive ...
to form a Hong Kong United Dockyard at the west coast of Tsing Yi Island on the western shore of new territories.
Ships built
* ''Wuchang'' 1914 for the China Navigation Co – coal fired passenger ship on the Yangtze converted as submarine depot ship HMS ''Wuchang'' and in 1942 used as for the evacuation of Singapore.
* ''Autolycus'' 1917 for the Ocean Steam Ship Company - Steamer, 5,806 tons. Was the largest vessel built in a British territory outside the United Kingdom at the time.
* 1920 for the China Navigation Co – converted as a submarine depot ship and then in 1943 by the Royal Australian Navy
The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the navy, naval branch of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (Australia), Chief of Navy (CN) Vice admiral (Australia), Vice Admiral Mark Hammond (admiral), Ma ...
as a mobile repair ship; returned to Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
in 1946 and returned to CNC in Hong Kong and broken up in 1949.
* ''Anhui'' 1924 for the China Navigation Company
* ''Taishan'' 1925 for Jardine Matheson
Jardine Matheson Holdings Limited (also known as Jardines) is a Hong Kong–based, Bermuda-domiciled British multinational conglomerate. It has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and secondary listings on the Singapore Exchange ...
Co.
* ''Wusueh'' 1931 for the China Navigation Co.
* 1933 for the China Navigation Company, later captured by the Imperial Japanese Army
The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA; , ''Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun'', "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan from 1871 to 1945. It played a central role in Japan’s rapid modernization during th ...
in service as before its return to C.N.C. after WWII
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. Sold several times between Hong Kong companies before acquisition by Tai Tak Hing Shipping Company. Sunk with loss of 88 lives during Typhoon Rose in 1971.
* 1934 for the China Navigation Co – passenger and cargo liner sunk by near Tobruk in 1941.
* ''Breconshire'' 1939 for the Glen Line - 10,000-ton passenger-cargo liner and largest ship built to date by any Hong Kong dockyard.
* 1941 for the China Navigation Co – converted as an Armament Stores Issuing Ship by the Royal Australian Navy
The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the navy, naval branch of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (Australia), Chief of Navy (CN) Vice admiral (Australia), Vice Admiral Mark Hammond (admiral), Ma ...
; returned to CNC in Hong Kong and broken up in 1970.
See also
* The Hongs
* Hongkong United Dockyards
* Cosmopolitan Dock
References
External links
*{{cbignore, bot=medic
WikiSwire website
Quarry Bay
Dockyards in Hong Kong
Former buildings and structures in Hong Kong
Ships built in Hong Kong