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I communicated yesterday with Mr. Kwok a'Cheong, by the steamer for Hong-kong, which passed the Prince Albert as she was on her way to Canton, and notified him of the seizure.
(Signed) JOHN GODSIL.
Sworn at Canton this Thirtieth day of March, 1866, before me
(Signed) WM. FRED. MAYERS,
(L.S.) H.M's Acting Vice Consul.
OO TYE'S DECLARATION.
I, Oo Tye, of Victoria, in the Colony of Hongkong, Merchant Broker and Commission Agent, trading under the shop name of Tow Shing but known to foreigners under the name of Ee Tye, do hereby solemnly and sincerely declare that on the 21st of March last, Chun Achee of "Tong Shing Chun" shop came to me and said that he had received information that a Junk laden with rice belonging to him had been dismasted, that she was somewhere down the West Coast of China, and that she could not get up to Hongkong in consequence, and the said Chun Achee requested me as I was a friend of Kwok a'Cheong, to see Kwok a'Cheong and ascertain from him if he would allow me one of his steamers to go out in search of the Junk, and what Kwok a'Cheong would charge for the service of searching for the said Junk, and towing her up to Hongkong. That I went to Kwok a'Cheong accordingly, and after some bargaining it was agreed between Kwok a'Cheong and myself, that Kwok a'Cheong should dispatch his steamer the Prince Albert to go in search of the said Junk, and that Chun Achee should pay him the sum of Six Hundred Dollars for this service absolutely whether they succeeded in finding the Junk or not; and it was further agreed between us, that if they succeeded in finding the Junk, a further sum should be paid by the said Chun Achee to the steamer for towing her up to Hongkong, the amount thereof to be settled between the Captain of the steamer, and the person to be sent down in her on behalf of the said Chun Achee.
That I communicated these terms to the said Chun Achee, and he having agreed to them, the said steamer the Prince Albert was despatched on the said expedition on the following day.
And I make this solemn affidavit conscientiously believing the same to be true, and by virtue of the Provisions of an Act made and passed in the sixth year of the Reign of his late Majesty King William the Fourth, intituled "an Act to repeal an Act of the then present Session of Parliament, intituled, An Act for the more effectual abolition of Oaths and Affirmations taken and made in various Departments of the State, and to substitute Declarations in lieu thereof, and for the more entire suppression of voluntary and extrajudicial Oaths and Affidavits, and to make other Provisions for the abolition of unnecessary Oaths."
Signed, &c.
KWOK A'CHEONG'S DECLARATION.
I, Kwok a'Cheong, of Victoria, in the Colony of Hongkong, Merchant, do hereby solemnly and sincerely declare that I am the owner of the British steam vessel called the Prince Albert, and that I hold her under a British Colonial Register granted to me by the Government of Hongkong, under Ordinance No. ... of 186... of the said Colony; that on the 21st day of March last, Oo Tye of the Tow Shing shop came to me and said that a friend of his had a Junk coming up the Coast to Hongkong with cargo, that the Junk had been dismasted, and that he wanted to know what I would charge to send a steamer to go in search of her, and tow her up to Hongkong; that I agreed with the said Oo Tye to charter my steamer the Prince Albert to his friend to go in search of the said Junk for the sum of Six Hundred Dollars, which sum was to be paid to me whether the steamer succeeded in finding the said Junk or not, and it was further agreed between us that should the steamer succeed in finding the said Junk, a further sum should be paid for towing her up to Hongkong, the amount thereof to be settled between the Captain of the steamer, and the person to be sent down in her on behalf of the Charterer, taking into consideration the size of the Junk, which was unknown to me, and the distance she would have to be towed.
That as my said steamer the Prince Albert had been laid up for some time, and as she was required to be dispatched on the following day I was compelled to ship a master for her immediately, and on the morning of the 22nd of March, I took the said master to the office of the Colonial Secretary to have his name placed on the Register of the said steamer as master; that the said master having obtained his Port Clearance from the Harbour Master of the said Colony, the said steamer left Hongkong to go in search of said Junk on the same day; that I placed neither cargo nor merchandize on board the said steamer, nor was any such placed on board of her to my knowledge; that the said steamer was not dispatched for the purpose of trading at any port or place whatsoever on the coast of China, but solely and absolutely for the purpose of searching for the said Junk, and towing her up to Hongkong.
And I make this solemn affirmation conscientiously believing the same to be true, and by virtue of the Provisions of an Act made and passed in the sixth year of the Reign of His late Majesty King William the Fourth, intituled, "An Act to repeal an Act of the then present Session of Parliament, intituled, An Act for the more effectual abolition of Oaths, and affirmations taken and made in various Departments of the State and to substitute Declarations in lieu thereof, and for the more entire suppression of voluntary and extrajudicial Oaths and Affidavits, and to make other Provisions for the abolition of unnecessary oaths.
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Signed, &c.
CHUN ACHEE'S DECLARATION.
I, Chun Achee, of Victoria, in the Colony of Hongkong, Merchant, trading in copartnership with Foong a'Shing under the shop name of Toong Shing Chan, do hereby solemnly and sincerely declare, That on the 4th of January last, my partner the said Foong a'Shing left Hongkong to proceed to Cho Kum, a trading port in Cochin China, for the purpose of purchasing rice for our said shop. That on the 20th day of March last, the said Foong a'Shing returned to Hongkong, and informed me that he had chartered in Cho Kum a Junk called the Kum Shun Lee, that he had loaded her with rice, and that he had left Cho Kum in the said Junk for Hongkong; that the said Foong a'Shing further informed me that on the 8th of March, when near a place called Foong Khy on the West Coast of China, they got into a gale of wind, during which the said Junk was dismasted, she having lost her main-mast. That the said Foong a'Shing further informed me that fearing the said Junk might not be able to reach Hongkong in her then disabled state, he had left her to pursue her course whilst he had landed at Foong Khy aforesaid, and that partly by land and partly by boats he had found his way back to Hongkong to consult with me as to what should be done, it being his opinion that the said Junk could not reach Hongkong at that time of the year in her then crippled state. That after the said Foong a'Shing and myself had consulted together we decided upon hiring a steamer to go out in search of the Junk, and tow her up to Hongkong, and that the said Foong a'Shing should go himself in the steamer in search of her. That accordingly on the following day, the 21st March, I went to Oo Tye who I knew to be a friend of Kwok a'Cheong, and requested him to ascertain if Kwok a'Cheong would allow one of his steamers to go in search of the said Junk and tow her up to Hongkong, and what he would charge for the service. That I was informed by the said Oo Tye on the same day that he had arranged with Kwok a'Cheong for the service of the steamer Prince Albert. That I was to pay to Kwok a'Cheong the sum of Six Hundred Dollars for the use of the said steamer in searching for the Junk, and that this sum should be paid absolutely, whether they succeeded in finding the junk or not, and that if they found the said Junk, a further sum should be paid for towing the said Junk to Hongkong, the amount whereof was to be settled between the Captain of the steamer and the person to be sent by me on the said expedition. That I agreed to the above terms, and that on the following day, the 22nd of March the said steamer left Hongkong with my partner, the said Foong a'Shing on board to go in search of the said Junk. That the said Foong a'...
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