The Destruction of the PS Hankow, 1906

A rare “disaster postcard” of the 1886 Glasgow-built PS Hankow, an iron paddle steamer of the China Navigation Company that initially worked the Yangtze River routes up from Shanghai and transferred to service on the Hong Kong-Canton route in in 1886. Hankow was gutted by fire on 14 October 1906 at the Canton Steamer Wharf in Hong Kong with loss of 130 Chinese lives. The wreck was then towed to Shanghai in 1907 and converted to a hulk before being moved once again to Hankou as a transhipment godown. It then spent some time in Shasi in Hubei and Yichang on the Yangtze before being destroyed by American bombing during World War Two.

This postcard was posted from Hong Kong in 1907 where it must have been purchased… It shows a large crowd watching the ship burn, along with people inside it!! The card misidentifies the Hankow as a SS (Steam Ship) rather than a PS (Paddle Steamer).