206
[1st witness Lam Chu.]
[2nd witness Lam Yau-tai.]
8
144. You tell us that your brother Lam Shu-po was also attacked and his junk sunk
as yours was? Yes.
145. Have you heard any word about him since then? No, no one from his junk has
ever come back.
146. Have you made inquiries about your brother?
Yes.
147. Where have you made inquiries? I made inquiries at San Mei and elsewhere. 148. How many were there altogether on board your brother's junk? Altogether 26
or 27 persons.
149. How many of these would be children? 150. And how many women? 4 women.
I think some 6 or 7.
151. After your junk sank and you got on to your mainsail, and were drifting about,
did the submarine offer you any assistance? No.
152. Chairman: Had you any arms on board your fishing junk, any cannon or rifles?
We had cannon, no rifles.
153. How many? Only one.
154. Did you fire that cannon at the submarine? No, the cannon on board was safely
kept inside the hold of the junk.
(Witness left the witness box).
155. Second witness. Lam Yau-tai, duly declared, states:—
156. Lam Yau-tai, you are 37 years of age? Yes.
157. And you are a nephew of Lam Chu who has just given evidence? No, a cousin. 158. Did you work on your cousin's boat No. 36 H.W. up to September of this
year? Yes, No. 36.
159. You worked as a foki on board that junk? Yes.
160. How long did you work aboard this junk? About 4 years or a little over 4 years
- ever since became owner of this junk.
161. Do you remember being aboad that junk when you
lighthouse on 21st September? Yes.
went fishing off Chelong
not
see the
162. On the 21st September did you notice the lighthouse? No, I did
lighthouse. It was not the 21st but 22nd.
163. Did you notice any flashing of the lighthouse on the night of the 21st? Yes. I saw the lights from the lighthouse on the evening of the 21st September. 164. On the morning of the 22nd, the following morning, was your junk fishing? Yes. 165. About how many junks were there fishing around that spot on the morning of
the 22nd? Altogether 12 junks.
166. Were they all fishing in pairs? In pairs.
167. I think you were fishing with Lam Shu-po? Quite true.
168. About 8 o'clock that morning, did you notice anything unusual? I saw nothing
at first but I heard the report of a gun.
169. What was the next thing you noticed after hearing the report of a gun? Then
I saw the submarine.
170. About how far away was it when you first saw it? Very far away.
171. Did you see where it went to after you first noticed it? The submarine fired
at Lam Fuk-tai's junk.
172. That is the first pair-and after that what did it do?
Shu-po's junk.
173. And after that? Our junk.
174. Chairman:
Then it fired at Lam
What about Shek Kai-cheung? Shek Kai-cheung and and Lam Fuk-tai were a pair. These two junks were first hit.
[2nd witness Lam Yau-tai.]
175. Mr. Whyatt: After firing at Lam Shu-po's junk you say the submarine fired at
your junk? Yes.
176. About how far away was it when it fired at your junk? A distance several
times the length of our junk.
177.
Can
you give us some idea in relation to the length of this court room? From the witness box to somewhere beyond the back of the court-a little longer than the length of this court.
178. I want you to tell us what you noticed about this submarine-describe it to us as
well as you can. This submarine's colour was a silvery grey.
179. Did you notice anything else about it? I saw two guns and between these two guns there was a small bit of mast like a staff. One gun was on the bow and the other on the stern.
180. Did you see any marks on the submarine apart from its colour? I saw on the
bridge of this submarine between ten and twenty men.
181. Before I ask you about the men, I want to ask you if
you noticed any other marks painted on the surface of the submarine? I did not notice anything painted or marked on the hull of this submarine other than noticing the colour being silver grey.
182. Chairman: Why do you call it a submarine all the time-what made you think it was a submarine? I will tell you why. Because they fired at us when she was afloat. I saw this submarine fire at us when she was afloat and before she fired at us we could not see the hull at all, we only saw a bit of stick sticking out of the water.
183. Mr. Whyatt: How far was she away when you saw only a little bit of stick sticking out of the water? It was very far away when I saw a bit of stick sticking out of the water.
184. Was that before you saw the submarine fire at Lam Fuk-tai's junk? Before she fired at that junk I did not see her at all; I only noticed her after I heard the first shot.
185. Chairman: Was she on the surface then or was she submerged?
afloat on the surface.
She was
186. When was it you saw her submerged with only a little bit sticking above the surface? On that day what I saw was this-when I heard the gun fired she was afloat, one could see the hull above the surface of the water, but when she was not firing, we could only see a little bridge above the water and not the hull. 187. You mean she submerged after firing on the junk, or before she fired at the junk? Before firing on the junk she was only partially submerged, but when she fired again she was completely afloat.
188. You are only repeating now what other people have told you: the first thing you knew was gunfire? My attention was drawn by the gunfire and after that I looked and saw the submarine-she was partially afloat.
189. Mr. Whyatt: Have you seen a submarine before, anywhere? Yes, I have. 190. Where? In British waters.
191. Have you ever seen them in British waters in the harbour here? No, outside
Hong Kong, several years ago.
192. Let us get back to your story. You say the submarine came up to your junk
and fired at your junk. How many shots were fired? One only.
193. Did anyone on your junk do anything before that shot was fired at you? As soon
as we noticed the submarine approaching us we lowered our mainsail,
194. What was the reason for that? To salute the approaching craft because we have
no flag so that we lower our sail for purpose of salutation.
195. What did you use it for when you lowered it? We lowered all the three sails
on board so as to await the arrival of the craft.
207
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.