First steel ship built in Hong Kong after the Second World War

At the Hong Kong Maritime Museum in Stanley, another new found gem of Hong Kong’s maritime heritage is now on display. The Chan family, who owned the once famous Wing On Shing Shipyard at Cheung Sha Wan and gave Hong Kong its first Chinese Director of Marine, have donated a superb, nearly 60 year old builder’s model of the Tai Loy, a ship their family built nearly 60 years ago. The model, made by a Mr YN Lau, is of the Tai Loy, the best known of the old Macau ferries, especially under its second name, Chung Shan.

Laid down in 1948 and launched in 1950, the Tai Loy was the first steel ship built in Hong Kong after the Second World War. The museum would love to get in touch with anyone who knew Mr Lau, whose model so wonderfully evokes those pioneering days when an anti-piracy fence was still needed around the navigating bridge for safety on a trip to Macau!

Unusually the Tai Loy had three engines – diesels built to a German design by Hong Kong workers under Japanese supervision at Taikoo Dockyard during the Occupation. Bought cheaply by the Fu family, early investors in Macau’s casinos, they gave a start to the project. Once completed, for 27 years (1951-1978) the ship carried people between the two cities, ending its service as the last ferry to dock in Macau’s old Porto Interior (Inner Port). Sold and renamed the Hong Xing 801, the ship served on in Guangzhou possibly until 1988 – a 40 year career.