Hong Kong, Canton & Macao Steamboat Company
The Hongkong Canton & Macao Steamboat Company was a British merchant shipping and maritime trading company founded in 1865 in the Crown colony of Hong Kong.
flag of the Hongkong Canton & Macao Steamboat Company. | |
Native name | 香港、廣東及澳門輪船公司 |
---|---|
Private company limited by shares[1] | |
Traded as | HKCR No. 0000002[1] |
Industry | Shipping, Transport, Freight, Merchant shipping |
Fate | Defunct |
Founded | October 20, 1865 at Hong Kong[1] |
Founder | Douglas Lapraik, J. J. dos Remedios, A. E. Vaucher, Arthur Sassoon, R. Solomon, D. Ruttunjee, Bapoorjee Pallunjee Ranjee[2] |
Defunct | April 28, 1958[1] |
Headquarters | 20 Des Voeux Road Central, , |
Area served | China trade |
Key people | Douglas Lapraik, She Tat-cheong, Percy Hobson Holyoak, A. O. Lang, Phineas Ryrie, Emanuel Raphael Belilios, William Keswick |
Products | Ship Management, Ferry, Ocean liners, Property, Container ships, Packet boats |
Total assets | $750,000 HKD[2] (1865[2]) |
Total equity | 7,500 shares at $100 HKD each[2] (1865[2]) |
History
The Hongkong Canton & Macao Steamboat Company was founded on 20 October 1865 in Hong Kong by a collection of people tied to the shipping industry in order to support the market for regional ferry transport in the Canton area.[3] The company was founded in the same year as the founding of the Companies Registry which granted it the company number 2, only behind the British Traders' Insurance Company.[4]
The HCMSCo was one of the major shipping companies that participated in the Pearl River and China trade together with the China Navigation Company, China Merchants Steam Navigation Company and Jardine Matheson's Indo-China Steam Navigation Company since its creation in the 1860s. CMCo and the HCMSCo had entered into a collaboration to jointly carry out business in the area which continued into the early 1900s.[5]
With the opening of the West River Trade in 1897, HCMSCo together with the China Navigation Company and Jardine Matheson's Indo-China Steam Navigation Company, partnered together to open the new trade which became active from around 1897 to 1917 following the opening of several Treaty Ports like Wuzhou, Sanshui and Jiangmen to foreign trade in 1897. The West River trade declined with the advent of the Kowloon Canton Railway.[5]
HCMSCo was dissolved on 28 April 1958.[1]
Fleet
List of HCMSCo ships
- The following is an incomplete list of the HKC&MSCo fleet. You can help by expanding it.
Name | Homeport | Type | Owner/Operator | Year Built | Tonnage | Route | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SS Fire Dart | paddle steamer | 1860 | 660 GRT[6] | Hong Kong-Canton Line | |||
SS White Cloud | paddle steamer | Unknown | 527 NRT[7] | Canton-Macao Line | Wrecked at Macao during the 1874 Hong Kong typhoon. | ||
SS Kiukang | river steamer | Unknown | 1,284 NRT[7] | Hong Kong-Macao Line | |||
SS Powan | river steamer | Unknown | 1,842 NRT[7] | Hong Kong-Canton Line | |||
SS Honam | river steamer | Unknown | 1,398 NRT[7] | Hong Kong-Canton Line | |||
SS Kiungchow | river steamer | Unknown | 288 NRT[7] | Hong Kong-Canton Line | |||
SS Fatshan | ferry steamer | 1887 | 2,260 GRT | Hong Kong-Canton Line | Sold to China Navigation Company[8] | ||
SS Kinshan | ferry steamer | 1903 | 2,861 GRT | Hong Kong-Canton Line | Acquired by HKCMSCo in 1935, captured by IJA in 1942, sunk by USS Thresher (SS-200) on 29 December 1942 south of Singapore[9] |
See also
References
- Webb, David Michael (2019). "Webb-site Who's Who: HONGKONG CANTON & MACAO STEAMBOAT CO. LTD. (THE)". webb-site.com. Webb-Site. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
- – via Wikisource. . Europe in China
- Ting, Joseph Sun-Pao (2019). "1860 - 1898 The establishment of entrepot trade: Regional transport". mardep.gov.hk. Hong Kong Marine Department. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
- Webb, David Michael (2019). "The oldest 5000 HK-incorporated companies". webb-site.com. Webb-Site. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
- The West River (PDF). Hong Kong: Swire News. 2012. pp. 22–23.
- "Thomas Collyer, New York NY". shipbuildinghistory.com. shipbuildinghistory. 2013. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
- The Directory & Chronicle for China. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Daily Press Office. 1888. pp. 293–294.
- "Fatshan I". wikiswire.com. WikiSwire. 2019. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
- "Kinshan". wikiswire.com. WikiSwire. 2019. Retrieved 25 November 2019.