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.

Hongkong Canton & Macao Steamboat Company Limited
Native name
省港澳輪船公司
TypePrivate company limited by shares[1]
HKCR No. 0000002[1]
IndustryShipping, Transport, Freight, Merchant shipping
FoundedOctober 20, 1865 (1865-10-20) at Hong Kong[1]
FounderDouglas Lapraik, J. J. dos Remedios, A. E. Vaucher, Arthur Sassoon, R. Solomon, D. Ruttunjee, Bapoorjee Pallunjee Ranjee[2]
DefunctApril 28, 1958 (1958-04-28)[1]
FateDefunct
Headquarters20 Des Voeux Road Central,
Hong Kong
,
British Empire
Area served
China trade
Key people
Douglas Lapraik, She Tat-cheong, Percy Hobson Holyoak, A. O. Lang, Phineas Ryrie, Emanuel Raphael Belilios, William Keswick
ProductsShip Management, Ferry, Ocean liners, Property, Container ships, Packet boats
Total assets$750,000 HKD[2] (1865[2])
Total equity7,500 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]

List of HCMSCo ships

The following is an incomplete list of the HKC&MSCo fleet. A full illustrated fleet list has been published by H.W. Dick and S.A. Kentwell (see references below).

Name Homeport Type Owner/Operator Year Built Tonnage Route Notes
SS Fire Dart Hong Kongpaddle steamer Hongkong Canton & Macao Steamboat Company1860660 GRT[6]Hong Kong-Canton Line
SS White Cloud Hong Kongpaddle steamer Hongkong Canton & Macao Steamboat CompanyUnknown527 NRT[7]Canton-Macao LineWrecked at Macao during the 1874 Hong Kong typhoon.
SS Kiukang Hong Kongriver steamer Hongkong Canton & Macao Steamboat CompanyUnknown1,284 NRT[7]Hong Kong-Macao Line
SS Powan Hong Kongriver steamer Hongkong Canton & Macao Steamboat CompanyUnknown1,842 NRT[7]Hong Kong-Canton Line
SS Honam Hong Kongriver steamer Hongkong Canton & Macao Steamboat CompanyUnknown1,398 NRT[7]Hong Kong-Canton Line
SS Kiungchow Hong Kongriver steamer Hongkong Canton & Macao Steamboat CompanyUnknown288 NRT[7]Hong Kong-Canton Line
SS Fatshan Hong Kongferry steamer Hongkong Canton & Macao Steamboat Company
China Navigation Company		18872,260 GRTHong Kong-Canton LineSold to China Navigation Company[8]
SS Kinshan Hong Kongferry steamer Hongkong Canton & Macao Steamboat Company
China Navigation Company		19032,861 GRTHong Kong-Canton LineAcquired 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
  1. 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.
  2. "Chapter 19" . Europe in China – via Wikisource.
  3. 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.
  4. Webb, David Michael (2019). "The oldest 5000 HK-incorporated companies". webb-site.com. Webb-Site. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
  5. The West River (PDF). Hong Kong: Swire News. 2012. pp. 22–23.
  6. "Thomas Collyer, New York NY". shipbuildinghistory.com. shipbuildinghistory. 2013. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
  7. The Directory & Chronicle for China. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Daily Press Office. 1888. pp. 293–294.
  8. "Fatshan I". wikiswire.com. WikiSwire. 2019. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
  9. "Kinshan". wikiswire.com. WikiSwire. 2019. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
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