page_title: Shelter Island (Hong Kong)
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Shelter Island (Hong Kong) / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of Xin'an County made by Volonteri. Section enlarged to shown the modern day Sai Kung Town and the Port Shelter of Hong Kong only.
context_page_description: Shelter Island, known in Cantonese as Ngau Mei Chau is an island located in the water body Port Shelter, in the Sai Kung District, the New Territories, Hong Kong S.A.R., China.
context_section_description: The island appeared in a map drawn by Father Simeone Volonteri in 1866, at that time it was marked as Ngau T'au Chü (Chinese: 牛頭洲; Jyutping: ngau4 tau4 zau1; Cantonese Yale: ngàuh tàuh jāu; literally: 'Cow Head Island'). However, there are criticisms on the accuracy of Volonteri's map in general, or for specific place name such as Green Hill, which historically known as Tuen Mun Hill. There is a rock formation currently called Ngau Tau Pai (Chinese: 牛頭排), which connects to the island by intertidal zone. According to a book, Pai means rock, hill or mountain that locates in water body in general in the language of the Tanka people. It is not certain Volonteri's record is correct or not for the name of the island at that time.
  The name Shelter island [sic] also appeared in a book for sailing directions that published in 1863. In Asiatic Pilot by the U.S. Hydrographic Office in 1910, the island was described as 416 feet (127 m) high at that time. Shoal water extended northwards for 400 yards (370 m), and 300 yards (270 m) westwards from the island at that time.
  The island was part of a larger region that ceded to the Colony of Hong Kong in 1898.
  According to the historical document of the District Office South, the island was uninhabited when it was part of the Port Shelter Firing Range. The firing range was closed in the 1970s. In 2011, a mortar shell was discovered on a beach of the island. Administratively, the District Office South was replaced by the Sai Kung District Office as well as other District Offices after the World War II. At present, Shelter Island still administratively part of the Sai Kung District. It is part of Hang Hau East constituency of the Sai Kung District Council as of 2019 election, despite the island is uninhabited. But in term of environmental protection, the island is surrounded by the Port Shelter Water Control Zone.
  In the 1970s, the island was used by Ng Shek-ho, a drug lord, and his associates as a place to hide their goods.
  Nowadays, it was one of the tourist attraction of the Sai Kung District. In specific, the island was known for its sea cave, known in Chinese as 幽廊祕洞. The surrounding water of the island is a popular diving site. Such as the shallow waters in the bay Tai Wong Wan (大王灣), as well as west of Ngau Tau Pai, etc. Commercial divers also catch sea urchin near the island for their own restaurant.
  In 2019, human bones were discovered in Tai Wong Wan.
caption: An enlarged section of an 1866 map of the Bao'an County, showing Sai Kung and surrounding area, including Ngau Mei Chau (marked in map as Ngau T'au Chü)
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