MRCS (Eng.). Hong Kong nlt.1864. Hong Kong Government, Superintendent, Government Civil Hospital (vice John Roche Rice, resigned) March 11, 1864; Health Officer and Surgeon, Stone Cutters' Island Convict Hulk [1] June 21, 1864; Superintendent, Government Civil Hospital (vice John Alexander Yule, resigned) November 22, 1864.
[1] The Convict Hulk was originally the 510 ton barque Royal Saxon, which the Hong Kong Government had purchased in 1864. After having been fitted up the ship was towed to its designated mooring place between the Stone Cutters' Island and Lai Chi Kok in June [h.a.] and declared a Convict Station. 280 convicts were sent on board, from there they were transported to shore daily to perform manual labor, such as road building, etc. [I'm not sure if they actually worked in the quarry on the island.] The Hulk was discontinued in October 1866, there is no information as to what happened to Royal Saxon. Royal Saxon, a British merchantman, triggered (not by design) the Battle of Chuenpee on November 3, 1839 when it attempted to break a British blockade along the Pearl River and in confusion caused the British and Qing battleships to engage one another. The British blockade was set at the entrance of the Bocca Tigris eight days earlier intended to stop British merchants from trading with China through the southern port of Canton. The Battle of Chuenpee set the stage for an armed conflict of a much larger scale between Britain and Da Qing, which became known as the First Opium War.
Selected bibliography: Dennys, N.B., King, Charles and Mayers, William Fred., The Treaty Ports of China and Japan: a complete Guide to the Open Ports of those Countries, together with Peking, Yedo, Hongkong and Macao, Hong Kong: A. Shortrede & Co., 1867. The Hong Kong Government Gazette, March 12, 1864, Notice #48; November 26, 1864, Notice #170. Hong Kong Government, Report of the Colonial Surgeon for the Year 1863, 1866.
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