Hong Kong City and Victoria Harbour

This interesting painting shows the central harbour at the point when Hong Kong was taking off as a port from its slow growing early years. A close look shows ships from Britain, the USA, France and the Netherlands, as well as a host of Chinese vessels off Western District. The American ship - an auxiliary steam warship - is interesting since it helps us date the painting to the early 1870s. The ship is likely to be 'USS Colorado', the flagship of the US Navy's Asiatic Squadron, formed in 1868 to replace the preceding East Indies Squadron (1831-1868).