Ī pier constructed on the western end of Salisbury Road opened in 1906, it was a fine massive structure at that time and it also had a separate compartment for the first and second class. On his retirement in 1898, Naorojee sold the company to The Hongkong and Kowloon Wharf and Godown Company Limited, at that time owned by Jardine, Matheson & Co. Īt the time regular service was initiated, ships were moored by having a sailor on the vessel toss the rope to another on the pier, who would then catch it with a long billhook. The company name was inspired by his love of Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem ' Crossing the Bar', of which the first line reads 'Sunset and evening star, and one clear call for me!'. He incorporated the business into the 'Star Ferry Co Ltd' in 1898, prior to his retirement to India. Each boat had a capacity of 100 passengers, and the boats averaged 147 crossings each day.

The popularity of this means of transport enabled him to increase his fleet to four vessels within 10 years: the Morning Star, Evening Star, Rising Star and Guiding Star. Naorojee bought Smith's boat, and later acquired the steam vessels Morning Star and Evening Star from a Mr Buxoo. The company was founded by Parsee merchant Dorabjee Naorojee Mithaiwala as the 'Kowloon Ferry Company' in 1888. It is thought that a service to the public was established in the mid-to-late 1870s, after the cession of Kowloon to the British in 1860. This was stopped at the request of the British consul in Canton, who feared it would enable visits to gambling houses in Kowloon. In July 1873, an attempt was made to run steam ferries between Hong Kong and Kowloon. In 1870, a man named Grant Smith brought a twin-screw wooden-hulled boat from England and started running it across the harbour at irregular intervals. Before the steam ferry service was first established, people would cross the harbour in sampans.

The golden star chinese