The Fireboat Alexander Grantham Exhibition Gallery sits inside Quarry Bay Park on Hong Kong Island’s eastern waterfront, built around an actual retired fireboat that once protected the harbor for nearly five decades. Families and history buffs come here to climb aboard a working piece of marine firefighting history rather than read about it behind glass.
The vessel itself launched into Fire Services Department duty in 1953 and fought fires and conducted rescues on the water until its 2002 retirement, making it a genuine artifact rather than a reconstruction (source: Wikipedia). Visitors walk the deck, examine the wheelhouse and engine room, and inspect water cannons, hoses, and pumps that once battled blazes across Victoria Harbour. Indoor display panels and glass cases hold uniforms, rescue gear, and photographs documenting major firefighting operations, giving the hardware context. The gallery opened to the public in 2007 under the Hong Kong Museum of History’s management (source: hkmytravel.com).
Visitor Highlights & Practical Info
Admission is free, and visits typically run 30 to 45 minutes. Weekday mornings stay quietest, while weekends bring more families from nearby Taikoo Shing. The gallery is roughly a ten-minute walk from Taikoo Shing Shopping Centre and well served by Quarry Bay MTR station. For questions ahead of your visit, reach staff at 3580 6778 during office hours or call 2967 4525 for duty inquiries (source: hk.history.museum). Pair the stop with a stroll through Quarry Bay Park’s waterfront promenade.
