Morton, Brian

East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine (EASTM - Universität Tübingen)

 81 
REVIEWS 
 
P. Kevin MacKeown, Early China Coast Meteorology: The Role of Hong Kong, 
Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press (Royal Asiatic Society Hong 
Kong Studies Series), 2010, xvi, 289 pp.  
Brian Morton 
[Brian Morton Ph.D. (London), D.Sc.(HK) spent virtually his entire academic 
career at the University of Hong Kong, retiring in 2004 as Emeritus Professor of 
Marine Ecology in the School of Biological Sciences. He was also from 1989 to 
2004 Founding Director of the Swire Institute of Marine Science of the University 
of Hong Kong. In 1997 he was made a Knight (Ridder) in the Order of the Golden 
Ark (The Netherlands) for contributions to environmental education; in 1999 he 
was awarded an OBE for contributions to marine ecology in southern China and 
in 2004 was sole recipient of the Duke of Edinburgh Conservation Gold Medal for 
contributions to marine conservation. He has written numerous books on marine 
biology, his latest (2014) being ‘Tales and Drawings of a Life by the Sea 
(Gorslas, 2014). Contact: prof_bmorton@hotmail.co.uk] 
The author of this book, Kevin MacKeown, a former teacher and now an 
honorary professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Hong 
Kong, has embarked upon and completed a meticulously researched study 
of the history of the Hong Kong Observatory. Far from being a dull factual 
history of an institution and the infrastructure that housed it, MacKeown 
has focussed on the personalities of the personages, both high and low, that 
were involved in the observatory’s foundation and the early years of its 
work. As a consequence, the reader is introduced to a living, breathing, 
organisational structure whose fabric laid the basis for the future distin-
guished career of the observatory and its dedicated staff and, sometimes, 
eminent directors. The story MacKeown tells is undertaken also with the 
man’s characteristically droll wit and telling asides which reveal how not 
all the researches that scholars undertake are bone-dry but can be both 
amusing and enlightening.  
The book commences (Chapter 1) with a factual history of weather 
reporting in China and elsewhere in South Asia and of the observatories 
that were established notably at Zikawei (of various spellings) in Shanghai 
and in Manila, the Philippines, in the middle part of the nineteenth 
century—the latter being most important to the history of weather fore-
casting in Hong Kong. Both observatories were established by Jesuits, who 
through, arguably, either no or little fault of their own, laid the seeds for 
the early problems of Hong Kong’s fledgling institution. The need for an 
82                                                                                                  EASTM 40 (2014) 
 
 
observatory in Hong Kong was forcefully emphasised by the large typhoon 
that struck the, similarly fledgling, colony in September 1874 with the loss 
of more than 2,500 lives. Accordingly, Chapter 2 delves into the complex 
machinations, within and between the Hong Kong Government and its 
London controller—the Colonial Office—to establish the framework upon 
which such an institution could be rendered of service not only to the 
people of Hong Kong but also the fast-growing shipping fraternity that 
were the raison d’être for the colony’s establishment. First mooted by Dr J. 
De La Rue in 1877 after the above typhoon, Hong Kong’s surveyor general, 
J.M. Price not only picked up on the idea but, also, canvassed support for 
an observatory and produced a plan to create it with the endorsement of 
his supporter, the then Governor, John Pope Hennessy. The remainder of 
this chapter details the political games and to-ing and fro-ing between 
Hong Kong and London with regard not only to the establishment of an 
observatory, but also its functions, costings (both capital and recurrent), 
staffing levels and their future responsibilities. 
The decision to proceed with the project having been made by 1882, the 
search began for an observatory director, and Chapter 3 deals with the 
eventual appointee. This was to be the Danish citizen Dr A.W. Doberck 
then working at the Markree Observatory in Ireland. The Hong Kong and 
Colonial Office were advised with regard to a suitable appointee by the 
Astronomer Royal and it is this title, astronomer, for that is what Doberck 
was, that is key to the problems and antagonisms this, by virtually every 
account, arrogant, pugnacious, self-important and self-serving and solitary, 
but also highly intelligent and (astronomically) competent, director was 
and would continue to be. MacKeown discusses the duties of the 
observatory director on pages 62-64 of the book and these included the 
daily hoisting of an accurate time ball for all to set their clocks by, meteoro-
logical data gathering and dispersion once analysed, and the setting up of a 
tide recorder. In hindsight, and surprisingly overlooked, was a responsi-
bility for weather forecasting. An omission that in the years ahead came to 
haunt all the authorities and Hong Kong’s people as expressed vocifer-
ously in local newspapers. Also omitted was a reference to astronomy that 
along with religious matters would act to confound Doberck’s first love 
and hatred of, respectively. 
The director of the observatory arrived in Hong Kong in 1883 and 
Chapter 4 deals with the above key problems. Doberck considered and 
addressed himself as the Government Astronomer whereas the govern-
ment appointed him as the Director of the Observatory. Doberck consi-
dered meteorological work to be beneath him. To such an extent that 
although commanded to visit and form working acquaintanceships with 
his peers at the other China Coast and Asian observatories, he declined to 
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do so. MacKeown does not say so, but to this reader, it seems likely that 
Doberck had a Lutheran upbringing. And, since this church was not being 
established in China by missionaries until 1915, he obviously did not need 
its ministration and was probably, thus, an atheist too. As a consequence, 
Doberck was imbued with contempt for the ‘amateur’ Jesuit directors of 
these observatories. In the event, he refused contact with all of them. On 
page 87, MacKeown identifies the crucial role played by Captain Robert 
FitzRoy, in the post H.M.S. Beagle years and before his suicide in 1865, in 
constructing large-scale synoptic weather charts and thereby becoming the 
father of modern forecasting. On this basis, Hong Kong people expected, 
rightfully, to be warned of forecasted storms and a system of such signals 
was created by Doberck, which, along with the firing of a gun to announce 
the imminent arrival of a strong storm or typhoon, was a step in the right 
direction.  
Notwithstanding, Doberck’s refusal to countenance co-operation with 
other Asian and Jesuit observatories, particularly Manila, led to many 
wrong or late forecasts and much public scorn. As MacKeown points out, 
not all such errors were of Doberck’s making, however, but where 
typhoons are concerned, the public had only one person against whom 
they could direct their ire. This led to huge correspondences and as 
MacKeown puts it ‘universal dissatisfaction’ with the director personally 
and the work of the observatory in general. Thus, there followed numerous 
official enquiries into him as documented in Chapter 5. Doberck’s solution 
to the meteorological problem was the appointment of his sister Anna as 
his assistant who would be at his ‘beck and call any hour of the day or 
night.’ A telling justification one feels. The government’s decision not to 
accede to this request led to the appointment of a chief assistant in the form 
of one J.I. Plummer—albeit another astronomer and the candidate initially 
endorsed by Doberck but, foreseeably, not subsequently upon arrival. 
Quickly, Plummer also considered the meteorological work to be beneath 
him and the two men fell out. 
Chapter 6 deals with the important subject of typhoons and the history 
of their Asian forecasting. Doberck considered himself an authority on the 
subject and wrote a book—his Law of Storms in the Eastern Seas. Though 
much praised by himself, Doberck was not, by any means, a mariner and 
those who were ridiculed it. The forecasting abilities of the observatory 
were, however, saved by one F.G. Figg who, a mild-mannered and ‘head 
down’ hardworking assistant, soon obtained Doberck’s trust as meteoro-
logical manager. This side-lined Plummer and allowed Doberck to slowly, 
as his Hong Kong career egg-timed away, entrust the running of the, 
eventually, entire observatory to Figg. Eventually too, Anna Doberck was 
appointed and took over the responsibility of visiting ships when they 
84                                                                                                  EASTM 40 (2014) 
 
 
arrived in port and extracting weather data from their logs. In this, she was 
fastidious, accumulating over her long association with the observatory, 
almost half a million sets of data that allowed her to construct pilot charts. 
Sadly, however, this work came to naught and her efforts and dedication 
were forgotten. 
Chapter 7 deals with Doberck’s clashes with the Manila Jesuits although, 
in truth, with Figg and Anna on staff, the observatory was running much 
more smoothly and efficiently. It is in the light of these two assiduous 
persons that the eventual recognition of the institution should be seen. 
Doberck’s adversarial approach to the authorities in Hong Kong but also 
his hatred of the Jesuits, compounded by the, in hindsight, silly mistake of 
his (and Plummer’s) appointments as astronomers lay at the root of the 
observatory’s teething problems. Doberck resigned his post in 1907, un-
acclaimed and un-missed, to retire to astronomy and disappear ultimately 
from history, particularly Hong Kong’s. Fittingly, Figg was appointed to 
replace him, retiring himself in 1912 after a service of 29 years although 
Anna remained longer until 1915. The post Doberck ‘new age’ of the Hong 
Kong Observatory is discussed by MacKeown in Chapter 8. 
MacKeown’s book concludes with four Appendices, that is, a Gazetteer, 
Hong Kong Observatory publications (1884-1912) and the publications of 
J.I. Plummer and A.W. Doberck. There is also a list of notes to each chapter 
(thankfully here and not in the text) and a comprehensive index. 
In conclusion, MacKeown’s book is a classical piece of meticulous 
research and writing that befits a serious and world-renowned Hong Kong 
academic. Though eminently readable, it will not appeal, even if translated 
into Chinese, to the general public either in Hong Kong or elsewhere. 
Nevertheless, for the serious student of Hong Kong history, it is both 
rewarding and highly informative, and cleverly dotted with subtle innuen-
does, opinions, thoughts and anecdotes. 
Also to be congratulated is the Royal Asiatic Society which through its 
Hong Kong Studies Series (other titles within which are identified in the 
pre-title pages) published in co-operation with Hong Kong University 
Press, has ensured that Hong Kong’s early history is not forgotten nor 
ignored. MacKeown’s book is, however, especially important to me sitting 
and writing at home in storm-tossed and flood-ravaged Great Britain 
because, as the nation’s citizens watch, every one, every night, the weather 
forecast on their television sets, the importance of weather forecasting is 
brought home to us all. This is also true for typhoon prone Hong Kong, the 
citizens of which have good reason to thank the staff past and present of 
the Hong Kong Observatory for their dedication, over the decades, in 
ensuring their greater safety. Finally, with a globally changing climate, the 
role of observatories worldwide will assume a greater and greater 
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importance for us all and MacKeown has eloquently reminded us of that 
importance. 
 
 


P. Kevin MacKeown, Early China Coast Meteorology: The Role of Hong Kong

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P. Kevin MacKeown, Early China Coast Meteorology: The Role of Hong Kong

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