On October 10th 1892, the S.S. Bokhara(a steam ship) was transporting Hong Kong’s cricket team when it sank during a violent typhoon off the coast of Sand Island in the Pescadores, Formosa. 125 people died that day including eleven athletes that were members of the Hong Kong cricket team.
The cricket team had played at an Interport match Vs. Shanghai at the Shanghai Cricket Club just a few days prior and were on their way home when the disaster occurred. The Typhoon worsened on the morning of the 10th, the lifeboats blew off the ship as the strong winds rocked the ship.By nightfall, waves were sweping over the ships decks and flooded the engine compartment and ruined all the machinery.
As the engineers worked hard to restart the flooded engines, the captain began warning the passengers of impending disaster. Within minutes, the ship struck a reef twice, the second collision ripped a massive hole into the starboard side of the ship. Two minutes later the Bokhara was on the bottom of the sea.
The eleven Hong Kong cricketers who died that day:
- Lieutenant C.G. Boyle
- Lieutenant Burnett
- Captain Dawson
- Sergeant Donegan
- Captain John Dunn
- Quartermaster-Sergeant Jeffkins
- Sergeant Mumford
- G.S. Purvis, Esq.
- G.E. Taverner, Esq.
- Major Turner
- C. Wallace, Esq.
