Waglan Island 橫欄島

"If the Bermuda Triangle is the curse of North Atlantic Ocean, Hong Kong's Waglan Island is the curse of the Pacific Ocean. How many ships perished in the sea and how many lives were saved by the lighthouse on the island?”

“如果說百慕達三角是大西洋的詛咒，那麼香港的橫欄島就是太平洋的另一個詛咒。島上的燈塔拯救了多少船隻，拯救了多少人的生命？”



At the southeastern Hong Kong, most people will only notice Po Toi Island, where is just like the countryside of Japan, but they don’t know that there is a long shaped and story-filled island behind called Waglan Island. In the 19th century. Waglan Island was named because its shape is like a straight line, which can block wind and waves.

在香港東南部，大多數人只會注意到蒲台島，那裡就像日本的鄉村一樣，但他們不知道後面有一個長長的形狀和充滿故事的島嶼，叫做橫欄島。 在 19世紀，橫欄島之所以得名，是因為它的形狀像一條直線，可以阻擋風浪。

There is rumored on the Internet said this is a restricted area. We checked the legal information and found that Waglan Island is under the management of the Marine Department. Ships cannot enter the waters 100 meters away from Waglan Island without approval. In order to explore this mysterious island, we took an extreme method to visit, that is, getting off the boat 100 meters away from the island and then swim to the island. We have 5 peoplei in total, including my father. The original pier was destroyed by typhoon Mangkhut in 2019, so we have to land on the nearby stone steps. Waglan Island is composed of two small islands with a difference of ten meters. All the buildings are located on the east side of the island. We decided to start here. Going up the stairs, you will see a set of cracked rails on the pier stone that is being repaired. What is this used for?

網上有傳言稱這是禁區。我們查閱了法律資料，發現橫欄島由海事處管理。未經批准，船隻不得進入距離橫欄島100米的水域。為了探索這個神秘的島嶼，我們採取了一種極端的方法去參觀，那就是在距離島100米的地方下船，然後游到島上。 我們總共有5個人，包括我父親。原來的碼頭在2019年被颱風山竹摧毀了，所以我們只好在附近的石階上岸。橫欄島由兩個相差十米的小島組成。所有建築物都位於島嶼的東側。 我們決定從這裡開始。拾級而上，會看到正在修復的橋墩石頭上有一組破裂的鐵軌。這是有什麼作用的？

Waglan Island was a desert island more than a hundred years ago. By 1894, Hong Kong has a lot of commercial activity, a marine lighting facility is needed. Therefore, the authority built a lighthouse. Go up the stairs and you will reach the top of the mountain in less than 10 minutes. In addition to the lighthouse, there are 4-5 buildings on the mountain. What are those? Following the lease of the New Territories to the United Kingdom in 1898, the lighthouse was handed over to the Hong Kong government and operate it on January 1, 1901. “The invisibility on Waglan Island is down to 1000 meters.” Reported by radio news. Waglan Island, a name often heard on radio news because it is the alert of Typhoon. The Waglan Lighthouse not only played an important role on navigation, but also used to collect the weather in the east of Hong Kong. The collected data will be sent to the Hong Kong Observatory for analysis purpose. A weather station was built in 1952, and the staff of the Observatory were on duty to observe and record the weather on Waglan Island. It can be seen that there have been people living here for a long time, and the tracks I saw when I went up the mountain were used to pick up employees and transport materials in the past. One of the 3-stories buildings is the staff dormitory. There are about 3-4 rooms on each floor. As the stairs are dilapidated and the old steel buildings are exposed, every step must be very careful. I thought I could see some old furniture, but unfortunately none of them were left. Every room has an invincible sea view, and the bathroom is designed with a bathtub. It reallydoesn't look like a dormitory, but like a small resort hotel.

橫欄島在一百多年前還是一座荒島。到1896年，香港有很多與海外來往的商務工作，需要有一個海洋照明施引路 。因此，當局建造了一座燈塔。從樓梯往上，不到10分鐘的時間內即可到達山頂。除了燈塔，山上還有4-5座建築 。這些是什麼？繼1898年新界租借英國後，燈塔於1月1日移交香港政府營運，「 橫欄島上的能見度下降到 1000 米。」在上世紀初可在電台廣播聽到這些新聞報導。橫欄島，這個名字經常在電台廣播中聽到，因為它是颱風的警報。橫欄島燈塔不僅在航行中發揮了重要作用，還用於收集香港東部的天氣，收集到的數據將送交香港天文台進行分析 。1952年建造了一個氣象站，天文臺的工作人員值班觀察和記錄橫欄島的天氣。從此看來，這裏已經有人生活了很久，而我上山時看到的鐵軌，過去是用來接送員工和運輸物資的。其中一棟3層樓的建築是員工宿舍。每個樓層大約有 3-4 個房間。由於樓梯破舊不堪，舊鋼結構建築暴露無遺，每一步都要非常小心。 本來我以為可以看到一些舊傢俱，但失望是並沒有留下。每間客房都享有無敵海景，浴室設計有浴缸。看起來真的不像宿舍，而是像一個小型的度假酒店 。

The lighthouse has been changed to automation since August 1989, no manual operation is required, and the staff of the Observatory have all left. On the far left is the Fog Horn and Machine Room, all deserted. Fog horns are used to send alarms to alert nearby boat operators when visibility is low. The sound could be heard even in Tsim Sha Tsui. Some staff members reported that it was deafening and very annoying.

燈塔自1989年8月起改為自動化，無需再用人手操作，天文臺工作人員全部離開。最左邊是霧喇叭和機房，現在都空無一人。霧喇叭用於在能見度低時發送警報以提醒附近的船隻操作員。即使在尖沙咀也能聽到聲音。以前一些工作人員報告說，震耳欲聾，非常煩人。

Staff here have to endure the pain of being separated from their families for a long time, as well as the problems of lack daily necessities. According to the information, the transportation on Waglan Island is not easy and only runs once every two weeks. The materials that can be transported to the island are also limited, and the fresh food for the staff is also very little, so they have to set up water tanks to collect tap water and rely on fishing.

這裡的工作人員既要忍受長期與家人分開的痛苦，還要忍受生活用品不足的問題。根據資訊，橫欄島上的交通並不容易，每兩周才運行一次。能運上島的物資也有限，工作人員的新鮮食物也很少，只好架設水箱取自來水和靠打魚為生。

Next to the lighthouse is a building with European-style window frames, which is the dormitory and office for foreign personnel, and some staff desks are reserved inside. We noticed that this building was built with marble, that’s why we felt cool inside. One of the document storage rooms resembles Professor Snape offices in the novel of Harry Potter. Back then, the staff were extremely busy, because Waglan Island was an outpost for typhoon warning, so the staff had to work every 4 hours and rest for 4 hours, collect the information of ships entering and leaving the harbor, forward it to the harbor control center, and report the weather conditions to the Observatory every 3 hours. They also need to maintain the lighthouses and their complexes. The super typhoon Mangkhut that occurred in 2018 caused a serious damage all around Hong Kong. Waglan Island recorded an average wind speed of 161 kilometers per hour, it is the highest record ever, that’s why the docks blew up. You can imagine the staff had to do it over and over again. It could be a dull duty but a very important role.

燈塔旁邊是歐式窗框，是外籍人員的宿舍和辦公室，裡面預留了一些工作人員的辦公桌。我們注意到這座建築是用大理石建造的，這就是為什麼我們在裡面感覺很涼爽。其中一個檔儲藏室類似於哈利波特  小說中石內卜教授的辦公室。當年工作人員非常忙碌，由於橫瀾島是颱風預警前哨，工作人員每4小時工作一次，休息4小時，收集進出港口的船舶信息，轉發給港口控制中心，並將天氣情況報告給天文台每3小時一次。他們還需要維護燈塔及其建築群。2018年發生的超強颱風山竹在香港各地造成嚴重破壞，橫瀾島的平均風速為每小時158公里，這是有史以來的最高記錄，這就是碼頭受到破壞的原因。你可以想像在颱風期間工作人員不得不一遍又一遍地重複匯報天氣情報，這可能是一項沉悶的職責，但卻是非常重要的角色。

As the lighthouse is historic sites, so we are not advised to go in. This lighthouse was completed in 1893.The Waglan Lighthouse was equipped with an advanced signal light at that time, which was fueled by oil, and its rotating lighting instrument was floating on mercury. It was one of the first two lighthouses to adopt this advanced equipment. However, there still have many shipwrecks here. It was the night of January 1929, China Merchants Bureau Xinhua ship departed from Shanghai heading to Hong Kong and drove near Waglan Island in the early morning. The ship is suspected to be affected by high wind and waves, lead to misfortune hit to the reef and sank, caused deaths of 400 people. In the same year of 1929 December, a crew member tried to save their captain in a ship accident but failed. Only two people survived. By 2021, Hong Kong Underwater Archaeology Association dived more than 20 meters below Waglan Island and found the sank ship of Xinhua. Now, I can understand a little bit why this island is called as the devil island too.

由於燈塔是歷史遺跡，所以我們不建議進去。這座燈塔於1893年建成，橫瀾島燈塔當時配備了   先進的信號燈，以石油為燃料，其旋轉照明儀器漂浮在水銀上。它是最早採用這種先進設備的兩座燈塔之一。但是，這裡仍然有很多沉船。1929年1月夜裡，中國某商局新華社從上海出發前往香港，清晨駛近橫瀾島。該船疑似受大風大浪影響，導致不幸撞礁沉沒，造成400人死亡。同年1929年12月，一名船員試圖在一次船難中拯救他們的船長，但最終失敗了，只有兩個人倖存下來。到2021年，香港水下考古協會潛入橫瀾島以下20多米處，發現了新華號沉船。現在，我可以稍微理解為什麼這個島也被稱為魔鬼島了。

After visiting a series of historical buildings, we returned to the pier along the road and swam to the south of the island while unpacking. The total length was about half an hour. However, since the father did not bring fins that day, so he was difficult to withstand the waves and chose to walk on foot. On the way, we saw a small tide pool and sea caves. Finally we reached the Waglan Cave, which is 20 meters high. It was magnificent and the best nature proof of how strong the wind of Waglan Island can be.

參觀完一系列歷史建築後，我們順著路返回碼頭，一邊整理行李一邊游向島南。總共大約半個小時。然而，由於父親那天沒有帶蛙鞋，所以他難以抵擋海浪選擇了步行。途中，我們看到了一個小潮汐池和海蝕洞。最後我們到達了20米高的橫欄島洞穴。氣勢磅礴，是橫瀾島風力之強的最好自然證明。

After watching the perfect sunset at the entrance of the cave, we waited for the boatman bring us back to the modern world. At the end of the journey, I still can't figure out why people call this place as Devil island, maybe is it because of many terrible shipwrecks, or is it too painful for the staff to live in isolation? ? But in any case, memories, whether good or bad, are part of Hong Kong and have the meaning of preserving and remembering.

在洞口看完完美的日落後，我們等待船夫帶我們回到現代世界。在旅程的最後， 我仍然想不通為什麼人們稱這個地方為魔鬼島，也許是因為許多可怕的沉船事故，或者是工作人員的隔離生活太痛苦了？ ？ 但無論如何，回憶，無論好壞，都是香港的一部分，都有保存和銘記的意義。

Photography: @hansleytravel