More than one year on, zero progress made on wreckage thought to be HMS Tamar

There has been zero progress in identifying and possibly salvaging the suspected wreckage of a famous British navy vessel, more than a year after it was discovered at the bottom of Victoria Harbour.

Experts had been all but certain it was the former British troopship HMS Tamar that was scuttled during the Battle of Hong Kong in 1941, but the government has yet to confirm it.

What is known is that the object has been moved 100 metres from its location of discovery to allow waterfront reclamation and development to continue.

In March last year, the government revealed it had found a large metal object about six metres under the seabed, near the old Wan Chai Ferry Pier.

The object, about 40 metres long, two to 11 metres wide and two metres high, was discovered during dredging works to prepare for land reclamation in Wan Chai and the tunnel works for the Central-Wan Chai Bypass.

In response to inquiries by the Post on the latest status of the find, a spokesman for the Civil Engineering and Development Department (CEDD) said “its identity is yet to be confirmed as the ship’s bell, name plate or any other unique features have not been found”.

“The metal object has been relocated to the nearby seabed about 100 metres away from the original position for surveying,” the spokesman said.

He added the department was still consulting the Antiquities and Monuments Office (AMO) on “how further archaeological investigation can be conducted to confirm its identity and heritage value”.

Details such as relocation methods, the condition of the wreck, conservation plans, or findings of research conducted, were not given.

The spokesman only pointed to an online government update in August last year, which said two heavy-lifting barges were deployed in lifting and relocating the object underwater and reclamation works resumed afterwards.

Former director of the Maritime Museum, Dr Stephen Davies, said that he found the government’s response to be “absurd” and failed to keep the public informed.

“We don’t know whether it survived the move in one piece,” he said. “Presumably the AMO must be doing some work – what work are they doing? But, they never shared information with any other researchers. They live in a little sealed box of their own.”

The Post contacted the AMO but did not get a response.

Davies, who initially took part in the government investigation team on the metal object for two weeks before leaving it in early April last year, said it was already “90 per cent certain” at the time that it was the remains of HMS Tamar.

“We have hydrographic evidence, photos, documents, all of which say what’s in that location up until the 1960s is the remains of HMS Tamar,” he said. “A responsible antiquities body doesn’t take a risk with a valuable artefact because it can’t prove to 100 per cent certainty what it thinks it is.”