Osaka Shipping

I

In April, 1896, the Japanese Colonial Gov't asked Osaka Shipping [大阪商船株式會社] to start services between Keelung and Kobe. This was the beginning of the Designated Route Policy designed to oust Douglas Shipping (i.e., Douglas, Cass & Co). Indeed, under this policy, on March 27, 1899, Osaka Shipping was given monopoly for operating all routes to China, previously run by the Douglas. By 1902, Douglas was totally out of the shipping business and became an agent for Shell Transport & Trading Co. Its docks, offices, customs area, warehouses, living quarters in Tamsui were all confiscated and nationalized in 1914. Part of the properties had been re-built into houses rented to newly arrived Japanese immigrants including school teachers, and other parts occupied by the military. After the war, these properties were once again nationalized and again occupied by the military as well as refugees arriving from China in 1949.

It is highly unlikely that the descendants of Douglas Lapriak (1818-1869), if any at all, still retain deeds and titles to these properties in Tamsui and possibly Taipei as well. In 1988, Shell actually filed a lawsuit to recover its pre-war property in Tamsui. The request was, however, denied by Taiwan Superior Court in 1995. Shell was the owner of the Rising Sun Petroleum Co at one time and was trying to reclaim a piece of land near Tamsui Station on which two large oil storage (and a smaller processing) tanks were located. These oil tanks and the neighboring seaplane port were bombed by the US Navy on Oct 12, 1944. The oil burned for 3 days and 3 nights.