Aberdeen Centre Worth Less Than $1

On 16 May 1857, Hong Kong Government Gazette announced that there would be an auction of two Aberdeen lots for docks, each measuring N600 S600 E840 W840 feet, covering 11.5 acres, for an annual rent of 100 pounds, and a one-time premium (i.e. land price) to be determined at auction. On 20 June, the Gazette announced that it was sold to D. Lapraik and J. Lamont, respectively, each for a premium of $1, which means either no one else wanted to bid for the two lots, or the government colluded with the two bidders. Who are the two bidders? What unfolded in the following few years appear to be very interesting.

Douglas Lapraik, who bought A.M.L. 1, was a British watchmaker-cum-trader, whose company Douglas Lapraik & Co then owned ships and focused on trading with China. John Lamont, who bought A.M.L. 2, was a Scottish ship carpenter and already had a ship repair/building business with a slipway at East Point (now Causeway Bay). Lamont allegedly constructed the first foreign ship in Hong Kong, a 80 ton schooner named Celestel in 1843. The two gentlemen were close; supposedly Lamont built a 137 ton steamship called the Queen for Lapraik in 1853. So it is perfectly understandable these two would collaborate and would not have out bidden each other on the two marine lots. Lamont dug and built with granite a dry dock on the east side of his lot (middle of Aberdeen Bay). As soon as the dock, commonly known as Lamont’s Dock, was completed and put into use in 1859, Lamont ran into financial difficulties.  In 1860, Government gazetted that “rent for Aberdeen Lot Marine No. 2 over due”, which means Lamont was in such dire state that he could not cough up even 100 pounds. The difficulty was compounded as demand for bigger ships meant Lamont’s Dock alone was not enough to survive; so he turned to Lapraik for finance, started building a much bigger dry dock, west of and next to the existing Lamont’s Dock. Lamont eventually sold the entire business to Lapraik (who formed Hongkong & Whampoa Co with others) in 1865, left for home and died in Scotland the next year, before the new dock, called Hope Dock, was finished in 1867.

On the other hand Lapraik, a shrewd businessman, apparently only built a wharf along the coastline, most likely, from the Old Aberdeen Main Street to now a section of the Aberdeen Main Road, with a protruding platform at the block where the current post office is; in addition, he sold some of the reclaimed land (and likely also houses), making a good profit in the process. As it appears, Lapraik only used up less than a third of the area he bought, probably returned the rest back to the government as to pay less annual rent going forward (later government auction records affirmed this); he probably did the same with the other lot after he acquired it from Lamont, which only used close to one half even with two docks. Lapraik died 24 March 1869, a table of probates in 1870 Government Gazette shows that his net worth was $350,000, a staggering amount during the time in Hong Kong.  In 1876, D. Lapraik & Co. was the top tax payer in Hong Kong, at $11,108.92, way above number two Jardine Matheson at $8,453.4, making his family the richest in Hong Kong. 
Later Li Ka-shing acquired Hutchinson & Whampoa Co., which owned the two docks, about only half of the original A.M.L. 2, and tuned them into today’s huge housing complex called Aberdeen Centre, which was worth less than $1 in 1857!

Notes:
1. Abstract from a 10 April 1861 advertisement by John Lamont on Lamont’s Dock: working for nearly two years (finished mid 1859 after April 10); 335 feet long, 78 broad and 22 deep; with engineering workshops, planing/punching/shearing machines, a large foundry, saw-mills with both vertical and circular saws, powerful steam hammer.
2. Abstract from September 1867 “Nautical magazine and journal of the Royal Naval Reserve” on Hope Dock: 15 June 1867 opened; 410 feet long, 99 broad, 34.5 deep.
3. John Lamont died on 25 August 1866 (aged 62) in the Douglas Hotel, Aberdeen, Scotland. Notice the serendipitous connections between Lamont, Douglas Lapraik, Aberdeen of Hong Kong and where he died!