HONG KONG: BRITISH MARINES PREPARE TO SAIL CHINESE JUNK TO BRITAIN

• published: 21 Jul 2015
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Cant/Eng/Nat As the stroke of midnight sounds in Hong Kong on June the 30th - a small band of British mariners will be quietly celebrating in London. It will be an emotional moment -- The end of an epic sea voyage aboard a traditional Chinese wooden junk which will have carried them from Hong Kong past four Continents. If the voyage goes according to plan, they'll be raising their glasses to old friends they've left behind as the sun sets on British colonial rule in one small corner of Asia. UPSOUND: Ship's horn For generations, British vessels have sailed alongside traditional Chinese wooden junks in and out of Hong Kong's Aberdeen Harbour. Down the years, a healthy respect has built up between the respective sailors. This weekend, Briton Marc Cuthbert will help cement that bond by setting out to sea with seven fellow countrymen aboard the 18-metre junk "Precious Dragon". It will be a journey timed to coincide with the transfer of Hong Kong's sovereignty back to China. SOUNDBITE: (English) "We want to commemorate the handover by enacting the voyage in reverse of all the tea clippers and all the tall ships that came here to colonise one hundred and fifty years ago or so, and celebrate, really, it's part of life, it's part of history and it should be celebrated." SUPER CAPTION: Marc Cuthbert, Captain "Precious Dragon" The voyage would have been impossible without the help of the craftsmen and fishermen of Ap Lei Chau. Workers in the local shipyard have built up a healthy respect and a warm friendship with Marc . SOUNDBITE: (Cantonese) "This Westerner is very capable. He did everything all by himself from the wood work to engine repairs, to this stage behind me. We only did the welding and those engine repairs, those that we must do." SUPER CAPTION: Lee Chie Wah, Marine Engineer The Britons are determined to mark the handover of Hong Kong to China by painting a fuller picture of the "real" citizens of the colony - the tens of thousands who work away from the business and financial sector. SOUNDBITE: (English) "Everybody's focused entirely,or it seems to me, on politics, peoples rights, squabbles between Hong Kong and Beijing, authorities and officials. What is being missed out quite a lot is all the local people, the people who run Hong Kong in the background." SUPER CAPTION: Marc Cuthbert, Captain, "Precious Dragon" UPSOUND: Marc Cuthbert. "Big tough boy he's going to eat lots of fish on the way." The final member of the ship's crew -- Sinbad the cat -- is the mascot. And Marc will need all the luck he can get. An array of weapons may protect him from pirates that prey on boats in the South China Sea, but there's nowhere to hide if the waves are mountainous. The weather forecast, however, is good and all being well the "Precious Dragon" will castoff on schedule to mark the sun setting on another corner of the once-mighty British Empire. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/66e4c9931f7e482ce16f6a4f326ba879 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork