"Rescue Boatpeople" Postcard - Tow

Tow - Unable to make the last few miles themselves, these four small refugee boats are towed towards Hong Kong by a Royal Marin Police launch in 1988.

Printed on Japanese paper.
Size 178mm x 127mm.

'Rescue boatpeople' postcards with photos taken around 40 years ago in Hong Kong sea by Hong Kong ex-Marine Commander, Les Bird. 

Les Bird joined the Royal Hong Kong Police in 1976, and worked in the Marine Police for 21 years until June 1997. In the late 1970s he was a rural inspector of West Lantau, in the early 80s he returned to launch-going duties, overseeing the influx of tens of thousands of Vietnamese refugees in the years that followed. 

Les has been invited to speak about his two books at a variety of institutions, including the Royal Geographical Society, the Royal Asiatic Society, the Nautical Institute and the Hong Kong Maritime Museum. In 2020 he spoke to a sold-out audience at the Hong Kong International Literary Festival about his memoir ‘A Small Band of Men: An Englishman’s Adventures in Hong Kong’s Marine Police.’ And at the 2021 Festival, again to a full house, he presented photographs and stories from his second book ‘Along the Southern Boundary: A Marine Police Officer’s Frontline Account of the Vietnamese Boatpeople and their Arrival in Hong Kong.’ Photographs from his second book were included in exhibitions at the Chinese University in Hong Kong (2021) and at the Wende Museum in Los Angeles (2023).