HMSTamar (Chinese:添馬艦) was the name for the BritishRoyal Navy's base in Hong Kong from 1897 to 1997. It took its name fromHMSTamar, a ship that was used as the base until replaced by buildings ashore.
The British Navy arrived during theFirst Opium War to protect the opium traders. SirEdward Belcher, aboardHMSSulphur landed in Hong Kong on 25 January 1841.[1]Possession Street still exists to mark the event,[1] although its Chinese name is 水坑口街 ("Mouth of the ditch Street").
Commodore SirGordon Bremer raised theUnion Jack and claimed Hong Kong as a colony on 26 January 1841.[1] Naval store sheds were erected there in April 1841.[2] The site had been referred to as the "HM Victualling Yard" in the Navy's own register.[3] The first naval storekeeper and agent victualler, Thomas McKnight, appointed on 21 March 1842, served until October 1849. Early maps show that major construction was also carried out at another, slightly more westward site, between 1845 and 1855.[2] In fact, the naval authorities demolished theWest Point store sheds and surrendered the land to the colonial government in 1854 in exchange for a plot of land where theAdmiralty station of theMass Transit Railway stands.[4]
TheSecond Opium War in China (1856–1860) caused a military build-up, in which the yard expanded westwards in April 1858. A victualling yard was added at what was then the North Barracks. Two officers were initially appointed as responsible for the machinery and spare parts, respectively, needed to maintain and repair ships in the dockyard, and for dry goods and foodstuff in the victualling yard.[4]
HMSTamar, was a 3,650 ton Britishtroopship laid down in 1862[5] and launched in 1863. She first visited Hong Kong in 1878 with reliefs crews, returned once in 1886.[4] She finally arrived inVictoria City on 11 April 1897.[1] She was stationed permanently inthe harbour from 1897 to 1941, when she was scuttled during theBattle of Hong Kong during World War II, to avoid being used by the invading Japanese Imperial forces.
HMS Tamar (white vessel) anchored off the Naval Dockyard (1905)The former Prince of Wales Building, the main headquarters building of HMSTamar from 1978 to 1997A plaque engraved with the crest of HMS Tamar. Collected by Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence
At the turn of the 20th century, land adjacent to the site was needed for expansion. Unable to obtain it, as the site was surrounded by army barracks, the Navy began work on the construction of a floating basin (sheltered bay) and the reclamation of the east arm of the dockyard, in 1902. This project, involving 160,000 square metres ofland reclamation, a 36,000 square metre floating basin to repair and refit vessels afloat, and also a 183-metre graving dock,[4] was completed by 1908.[3]
On 28 November 1957, the Navy announced that the dockyard would be closed down over a 2-year period. However, in 1959, the Navy, which had retained some land on the waterfront, began planning a compact naval base on the site.[3]
From 1959 to 1962, the Wellington Barracks were upgraded to better serve the colony and reflect the changing times for the Royal Navy in the Pacific region. Old naval buildings were demolished, and the rubble used as landfill for the reclamation of the dry dock in October 1959.[3]
The Royal Navy decided to demolish the Wellington Barracks and build a modern naval facility in Hong Kong. ThePrince of Wales Building was completed in 1978 and became the headquarters of the new naval base, HMSTamar.
Shortly before the departure of British forces in 1997, theTamar basin was reclaimed, and thePeople's Liberation Army of the People's Republic of China occupied the Prince of Wales Building (now Chinese People's Liberation Army Forces Hong Kong Building, or collectively with other buildings and the area enclosed by walls, the Central Barracks).
HM Naval Base was relocated to the northern side ofStonecutter's Island, offKowloon, prior to thehandover in 1997. On 11 April 1997, just over a hundred years since HMS Tamar's definitive arrival for service as a base depot ship (the Tamar had arrived in Hong Kong for conversion on 30 September 1895) and just under a century after her commissioning on 1 October 1897, the British naval shore establishment in Hong Kong was de-commissioned.
The last HMSTamar on Stonecutters Island is now a government marine facility, now known as theGovernment Dockyard. The vacated site in Central, Hong Kong Central, now known as theTamar site, became a valuable piece of real estate and after much debate as to how to best use the site has now become the location of the new Hong Kong Government'sCentral Government Complex.
RN Ferry (T-boats such as:Ah Moy) Numbers as T1. T2 etc. To ferry service personnels across Victoria Harbour, with Three stops, HMS Tamar (Admirialty), Stoncutter Island (British Military Base), Kowloon Public Pier.
