Title: The Pigeon Houses at Marine Police Headquarters
THE PIGEON HOUSES at the former Hong Kong Marine Police Headquarters in Tsim Sha Tsui are still there to this day. Unfortunately, the pigeons are long gone.

When I first arrived in Hong Kong in 1976 to begin a career in the Marine Police my first day was spent at the then Marine Police Headquarters, which is now the Heritage 1881 Hotel.

Most of that first day was taken up meeting senior officers and drawing marine stores. But out in the quadrangle, that's the parade square in the middle of the building complex, I found dozens of pigeons being fed seed by a staff sergeant. The sergeant explained that the pigeons lived in the quad, 'Up there,' he said, pointing to the three identical blue wooden boxes attached to the white walls of the first floor. These pigeon boxes were maintained by the PWD and the Marine Police had a monthly 'seed allowance' for pigeon feed.

The sergeant went on the tell me that pigeons had been resident at MHQ for longer than anyone could remember and were originally kept there as carrier pigeons. Before radios were installed on police launches the patrolling vessels would take a basket of pigeons out to sea and if they needed to send a message back to MHQ they would scribble it on a piece of paper, attach it to a leg of a pigeon and then let the bird go. The pigeon would then, hopefully, return home to the quadrangle where someone would detach the message, read it and do whatever was necessary. Well, that's how the story goes. In my day the pigeons were supposedly descendants of these carrier pigeons. I recall once, one young Marine inspector who shall remain nameless, decided to test the theory by taking one of the pigeons out on his patrol launch. When nearing Tsing Yi he let the bird go and watched it fly off towards Macau. The pigeon was never seen again. Another story relates to the WWII occupation of MHQ by the Japanese. During the war years the Japanese Imperial Navy made the MHQ building their Hong Kong headquarters. Apparently when the Japanese arrived all the pigeons left. And then, In 1945, when the British returned, all the pigeons came back - apparently. My theory on this is that the Japanese ate the 1941 pigeons and then, in 1945, a returning sentimental Marine Police Officer acquired replacements. In 1996, when the Marine Police gave up the building the pigeons once more disappeared. Maybe they met the same fate as the 1941 ones? I am sure there's someone out there that knows more about this. Click on the individual images for a bit more information on the pigeon houses of Hong Kong's Marine Police Headquarters.



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