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7. According to the rescued men who gave evidence there was no one on board the "Scharnhorst" who could understand their dialect of Chinese. When the vessel reached Hong Kong the same morning the survivors were handed over to the Hong Kong Water Police. The survivors were all from fishing junk No. 3407 HW.
8. On the evening of 27th September the British ship "Kaying", Captain Histed, master, while on a voyage from Shanghai to Canton picked up two men on a raft. The log entry is as follows:-
18.10, lat. 22° 27 N. long. 115 11 East-observed two men on wreckage; ship stopped, accident boat lowered in charge of Chief Officer and two men picked up. 18.30 ship proceeded."
The men were in a condition of extreme exhaustion. The vessel proceeded on her voyage to Canton, and on her return to Hong Kong on 30th September the two men were sent to the Tung Wah Hospital. They were Ho Pak-kung and Ho Pak-shing from junk No. 3407 HW.
9. Of these twelve survivors four have given evidence before us. The absence of the others is accounted for by the fact that they have either returned to Macao or to China or that they have obtained employment on other fishing junks and cannot now be found. The evidence of those whose testimony has been available is supported, how- ever, by survivors from other junks which at all material times formed part of the same fishing fleet, and from that body of evidence it has been possible to obtain a connected story.
10. On the early morning of 22nd September twelve junks were fishing off Chelong Point, which is in latitude 22° 39′ N. longitude 115° 34′ E. They were apparently at least twenty miles from the Chinese coast, and they estimate the bear- ing of the Chelong lighthouse as approximately N.E. of them. They were fishing junks of a capacity of between 1275 and 1828 piculs. (1) All of them were licensed' in Hong Kong and particulars of their licence numbers, capacity, armaments and crew, taken from the hooks of the Hong Kong Harbour Office, are shown in Appendix I hereto. None of them had any machinery, main or auxiliary, and the Assistant Chief Junk Inspector has told us that no vessel fitted with engines would be licensed as a junk.
A photograph of one of these junks No. 28 HW, owner and master Lam Yung- shing is given as Appendix II to this report.
They were, in accordance with their usual custom, fishing in pairs, their nets extending from the stern of one junk to the stern of the partner vessel. Their bows were pointing S. or S.W. Between each pair of junks was a distance varying from rather less than a mile to a mile and a quarter. The relative positions of the various junks, in relation to Chelong light and to one another is shown in the diagram which forms Appendix III hereto.
11. It was a fine bright sunny morning and the sea was calm. All the junks had
their nets in the water.
sterns.
At an hour which is estimated at between 8 and 9 a.m. the men on board the junks
their
The sighted a vessel approaching from the northward under
vessel rapidly approached, and all the witnesses are emphatic in describing her as a submarine. With this aspect of our terms of reference we shall deal in a later part of this report.
12. The vessel when within a very short distance of the junks opened fire with one gun on the first pair of junks. The range at which the vessel fired is estimated at as little as seventy two feet, the length of the Court in which we held our meetings. Shek Kai-cheung's was hit first and sank, then Lam Fuk-tai's junk was shelled and sunk. The second pair of junks, the masters of which are Lam Yung-hei and Lam Yung- shing, observing the fate of their neighbours, cut loose their fishing net and managed to escape to Hong Kong, which they reached on 23rd September. The vessel then turned
(1) A picul is 1334 lbs.
1
3
its attention to the third pair, owned by Lam Chu and Lam Shu-po, and shelled and sank each of them. Thereafter they sank by gunfire the six remaining junks, first the fifth pair, then the fourth, and lastly the sixth pair. The vessel made no attempt to render assistance to any of the survivors. On the contrary those on board turned a machine gun on the survivors from Ng Ying-kit's junk and then made off.
13. Fishing junks of this type carry one or more small sampans, mainly as a means of easy communication with the shore or with other vessels. The mainsail of the junk is made of buoyant sea grass, backed by pitch pine poles, and it is the immemorial custom of the fisher folk, in case of emergency, to lower the mainsail and bind the poles together, either at both ends, in which case they form a long raft some 18 or 20 feet long by 4 feet across as described by Captain Histed of the S.S. " Kaying, or by binding them at one end, thus producing a raft shaped like a fan, or, as the fishermen them- selves call it, a hand. As the unknown vessel approached, each of the junks, with the exception of the two which escaped, lowered their mainsails. One witness stated that he did so as a form of salutation to the approaching craft, an interesting parallel to the sailing ships' custom of lowering topsails in salute, but we have no doubt that the actual reason for that manoeuvre was to have a raft readily available in case of need.
14. We propose now to consider separately the case of each of the junks about which we have heard direct evidence, dealing with each pair according to the number which it is given in Appendix III hereto, which is based on the evidence of the first witness Lam Chu.
15. Lam Fuk-tai owner and master of junk No. 1069 HK licensed at Sai Kung, capacity 1515 piculs and Shek Kai-cheung owner and master of Junk No. 2955 HW be attacked, capacity 1370 piculs were fishing partners. They were the first junks to and both of them were sunk. There have been no witnesses from either of the junks, nor have enquiries enabled any of them to be traced, except that Ng Ying-kit has deposed that ten survivors from that pair of junks are at present in San Mei. There is no direct evidence of the number of persons on either of these junks on the day on which they were attacked, but the crew of each, according to the junk master's records, is No. 1060, crew 20, and No. 2955 crew 26. In addition to these numbers there would almost certainly be women and children on board each of these junks. Ng Ying-kit estimates the number on the two junks, including old and young, at sixty, and has deposed that the remaining fifty are said in San Mei to have perished.
16. Lam Yung-shing owner and master of junk No. 28 HW licensed at Shaukiwan, capacity 1468 piculs, and his brother Lam Yung-hei owner and master of junk No. 4470H A licensed at Aberdeen, capacity 1347 piculs, fished together. When the vessel opened fire on the junks they sacrificed their nets and managed to escape without injury to life or damage to property. It is one of these junks, No. 28HW which is shown in the photograph in Appendix II.
17. Lam Chu, owner and master of junk No. 36HW licensed at Shaukiwan, capacity 1828 piculs, sailed from Hong Kong on 17th September accompanied by his brother Lam Shu-po, owner and master of junk No. 2925HC licensed at Cheung Chau, capacity 1762 piculs. They sailed to San Mei and thence on 21st September to Chelong Point. His One man Kwok Tai-fu was killed and another Lam Yau-tai was junk was struck once. wounded. The junk sank and the twenty-eight survivors, including 13 or 14 women and children, took to the sampans and the mainsail. They were picked up by another junk on 23rd September and taken to Hong Kong.
18. Lam Shu-po's junk was hit twice and sank. He had 26 or 27 persons aboard, including four women and six or seven children. No trace of any survivors from his junk has been found.
19. Yeung Yat-hei owner and master of junk No. 615HW licensed at Shaukiwan capacity 1468 piculs, worked on the fishing grounds with Chan Kau, owner and master of junk No. 4123HA licensed at Aberdeen, capacity 1468 piculs. He vainly attempted to escape when he saw the shelling of other fishing junks. He was overtaken and his junk was hit three times. Three members of the crew were killed. The other twenty-
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