2.
34
EVIDENCE OF WILLIAM JOHN ANDREWS
CHIEF OFFICER OF THE "KWONG TUNG". SWORN.
My name is William John Andrews and I was Chief
Officer of the "Kwong Tung" at the time of the casualty.
I was on board the vessel when the fire broke out. Around
6.45 P.M. there was a shout of "Fire" and I immediately
came out of my room and connected up the fire hose
from the boat deck connection and passed it to the No. 1
guard. Then I made my way down to the tween decks. On
the way down I picked up the compradore and his staff
and instructed him to keep the 2nd class passengers quite
quiet if possible. I went down the starboard ladder lead-
ing to the main deck. The fire had originated at that
place. Two seamen had used extinguishers and put the
flame out. Some bags were smouldering and I `directed the
hose on those. I was caught in the mob and carried right
through the after port cargo port right onto the wharf.
-
Inspector Groves was endeavouring to control the mo
and doing most excellent work otherwise the loss of life
would have been more severe. Two Revenue officers were on
the ramp trying tocontrol the crowd. The trouble was that
passengers who had already got on shore were struggling
to get back on board to recover their baggage. There was
a lot of smoke white and dark brown the white being the
lower of the two. I went along the wharf to the forward
port gangway and with the help of the police we restrained
passengers still attempting to get ashore. By this time
the fire float had arrived and by using her searchlight
was of great assistance to us. The main deck, Wa¤xakIx«MI
¤ndxkaXhQKEXXNEN. was completely covered by passengers
baggage. Stairways were all clear and the hoses were in
use inside a minute of the call of fire. Until the vessel
actually sails we have little control, and we cannot prevent
passengers spreading their baggage over the deck. I don't
consider the procedure to be particularly dangerous. We