1.
EVIDENCE OF CAPTAIN CHARLES TROTT,
MASTER OF THE "KWONG TUNG" SWORN.
C32
My name is Charles Trott and I was Master of
"Kwong Tung" at the time of the casualty. I hold a
Certificate of Competency as Master Foreign-going
Steamships granted at Sydney, N.S.W. on the 17. 11. 1911.
We arrived from Canton and berthed alongside the East
side of the Yuen On Wharf, port side to at 8.0 A. M. on
Saturday the 31st January, 1948. I was not on board the
vessel at the time of the outbreak of fire. I arrived
on board at 7.30 P.M. I first saw the Chief officer and
I asked him what was the trouble. He told me that we
had had a fire in the after tween deck. I went down to
look. By this time the excitement had died down. Police
guards and firemen kept a watch on board the ship and
the wharf throughout the night. On the port side the
forward and after large cargo ports were open. The middle
one is never opened. All three were closed on the star-
board side. I had two gangways in position from the
forward and after cargo ports on the port side. There
was also an additional gangway leading up to saloon deck
(Upper deck). At the time of the fire I had no cargo on
board. (Outward Nil manifest sighted by the Court). The
goods on the main deck are passenger baggage. The Main
deck was completely covered when I visisted the tween
deck space at 7.30 P.M. I am powerless to prevent passen-
gers from spreading their baggage over the main deck. To
allow this is not a safe and proper procedure but the practice Master has obtained for many years. All four ladders leading
from the main deck to the upper deck were completely cle ar
and are accessible at all times. If order had maintained,
passengers could have used these ladders to get onto the
upper deck and could then have jumped down onto the wharf
because it was low water at the time (6.44 PM.
Table).
for
•
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Tide
In my
I was due to sail fro Canton at 9.0 P.M.
opinion panic was responsible for the heavy loss of life.