The Fireboat Alexander Grantham Museum

The fireboat Alexander Grantham museum is located in Quarry Bay Park, east of Hong Kong Island. The museum will display the fireboat Grantham, which was manufactured in Hong Kong in 1953 and retired in 2002.

The original central plaza will be converted into a semicircular pool for the Grantham, and the hull will be hidden below the horizontal line. The exhibition hall is built around the pool to display a special exhibition on the theme of "the history of marine rescue and fire boat service", while on the Grantham there is a special exhibition on the work and life of firemen serving on board at that time.

The exhibition hall is connected with the Grantham by a movable suspension bridge. Visitors can visit it by boat.

The Fireboat Alexander Grantham Museum

The fireboat Alexander Grantham museum is located in Quarry Bay Park, east of Hong Kong Island. The museum will display the fireboat Grantham, which was manufactured in Hong Kong in 1953 and retired in 2002.

essential information

The Grantham was once the main fire fighting ship of the Hong Kong Fire Services Department. It was manufactured in Huangpu dock on June 30, 1953 at a cost of HK $4 million. It was named after the then governor of Hong Kong, sir Grantham. Before retiring in 2002, it was the largest fire fighting ship in Asia. The Grantham is 38.9 meters long, 8.8 meters wide and 15 meters high, with a displacement of 511 tons and a speed of 11.7 nautical miles per hour. The ship is equipped with a number of fire-fighting pens, fire pumps, water cannons and salvage equipment, which can cope with the high-rise structure fire of large ocean going ships, and can be used as a command ship for large-scale marine accidents.

Main contributions

·During the water making period in the 1960s, Hong Kong was responsible for transporting fresh water for public use

·Fighting the Zhenbao seafood boat fire on October 31, 1971

·Fighting the Queen Elizabeth fire on January 9, 1972

·Fighting the dongzha oil tanker fire in the early 1980s

·Fighting the fire of "New Oriental Princess" on August 25, 1993

Retirement arrangements

The Grantham was decommissioned in May 2002. The elite took over as the Fire Services Department's flagship fireboat and temporarily berthed at the Hong Kong dock in Tsing Yi. As the Grantham is of great historical value and significance, the Fire Services Department contacted interested departments or organizations as early as early as 2002. At first, the authorities intended to place the Grantham in Ma Wan theme park as a special attraction. Later, due to the developer's unwillingness to bear the maintenance expenses, no agreement was reached, and the proposal was rejected.

Subsequently, the Fire Services Department and the leisure and Cultural Services Department reached an agreement to list the Grantham as a collection of the Hong Kong Museum of history and plan to open it to the public. Originally, it was planned to be placed on the embankment outside the Brennan torpedo launching station of the Hong Kong coastal defense Museum, and later it was changed to be placed in the central square of Quarry Bay Park. In order to collect exhibition materials more systematically, the leisure and Cultural Services Department has commissioned Lingnan University to conduct a one-year information collection and research project on the history of maritime rescue and fire fighting fleet. In addition, the civil engineering and development department has also electronically stored the Grantham in a "three-dimensional" manner.

From May 1 to December 31, 2003, the heritage exhibition of the fireboat Grantham, CO sponsored by the leisure and Cultural Services Department and the Fire Services Department of Hong Kong, was held at the Hong Kong Museum of coastal defence to display the valuable relics of the fireboat Grantham and introduce the works of the exhibition hall.

The whole project cost HK $35.6 million. The construction of the exhibition hall was started in October 2002, and the restoration of the Grantham was carried out from June 2005 to February 2006. On March 10, 2006, the Grantham was towed to the construction site by the flagship crane ship "nantianlong" of Guangzhou Salvage Bureau, and was hoisted and installed on the support. In view of the traditional taboo, the direction of the bow was changed from the west to the East.

Pavilion design

The original central plaza will be converted into a semicircular pool for the Grantham, and the hull will be hidden below the horizontal line. The exhibition hall is built around the pool to display a special exhibition on the theme of "the history of marine rescue and fire boat service", while on the Grantham there is a special exhibition on the work and life of firemen serving on board at that time.

The exhibition hall is connected with the Grantham by a movable suspension bridge. Visitors can visit it by boat.

Address: Quarry Bay Park

Longitude: 114.219139

Latitude: 22.289414

Tel. + 852-23677821