216
[5th witness Ho Kau.]
18
433. Can you give me the date or approximately the date you went fishing? I do not
remember what date when we sailed from Shaukiwan.
434. Can you remember the date when you started fishing off Chelong lighthouse? It was the 17th September when something happened a little after 8 o'clock in the morning.
435. Are you quite sure about which date it was in September? I
the exact date.
cannot remember
436. Anyway you cannot remember the exact date but you were going to tell us that
something happened at 8 o'clock in the morning? Yes, sir.
437. Will you just tell us what it was that happened? A steamer came and fired at us. 438. Will you describe what you call a steamer? What sort of steamer was it? A
sort of a vessel rather flat. It was a submarine. 439. Why do you say it was a submarine? Because I could see it.
rather flat.
440.
A submarine is
Was there anything else that was rather unusual about this craft? In appear- ance it was different to the ordinary ocean going steamer. It was flat and you could see very little things on board.
441. Have
you seen submarines before this occasion? Very rarely have I seen sub- marines.
442. Now how far away was it when you first noticed it? I saw it, when it was very
far away.
443. Did it come nearer your fishing junk? Yes, she drew nearer and nearer. 444. How near did it come? Very close.
445. Can you give me some idea of the distance? Only about ten cheung* away. 446. When she got as close as that did you notice any men on board her? Yes,
between ten and twenty persons on board.
447. What sort of men were they? They were
men, but I cannot tell nationality they were. They were very short built kind of men. 448. Could you distinguish anything with regard to their faces? I could not see their
faces very clearly.
you
what
449. When she got close to you did you notice anything-did anything happen when
the submarine got close to you? It fired on us.
450. And where were you when the submarine fired at you? I was on the right
hand side of the boat, that is the starboard side of the junk.
451. On the deck or where? On deck amidship.
452. How many shots were fired at your junk? Three shots.
453. Did you stay on deck the whole time? I was on deck when the first shot was
fired and I was inside the hold when the second shot was fired.
454. Did anything happen to you whilst you were down in the hold? I drew myself
up together. I went to a corner and nothing happened.
455. Were you in any way hurt? Yes.
456. How were you hurt? Splinters of wood hit me from the side of the junk.
457. I see you have a bandage round your head. Has that anything to do with the
injuries you received that morning? Yes.
458. What happened to your head? My head was injured in several places (witness
indicates the forehead and the top of the head).
459. What was it that injured your head? Splinters of wood.
460. After the third shot had been fired at your junk what happened to your junk?
She was sinking gradually.
* 1 cheung 11 ft. 9 in.
19
-
461. What did you do? I then held on to the mainsail.
[5th witness Ho Kau.]
462. And how long did you remain holding to the mainsail? Five days and five nights. 463. What happened to you at the end of that time? I was picked up by people on
board a German steamer.
464. Chairman: You alone? Ten of us in all.
465. Mr. Whyatt: Do you know the name of the German steamer that picked you up?
I do not know the name of that steamer,
466. Can you remember the date when you were picked up? I do not remember that. 467. When you got aboard this German steamer did they do anything to you?
Nothing extraordinary.
468. Never mind whether extraordinary or not. Did they give you any attention? Oh
ves.
469. Just tell us what they did to you? Some kind of chemicals
over the wounds.
470. Anything else? Nothing else was done to me. 471. Where did the German steamer take you to?
Master at Tsimshatsui (the Water Police).
was
used to smear
Later I was taken to Tsimshatsui. We were taken to the Harbour
472. First of all where did this German steamer take you to? To my destination. 473. What was your destination? Somewhere off Shaukiwan.
474. Then after you got off the German steamer where did you go? I did not go
anywhere.
475. Do you know a hospital called the Kwong Wah Hospital? I do not know that.
a hospital, but you do 476. When you got off the German steamer did you go to
not know the name of it? Yes, I do not know the name of that hospital.
477. Do you know two fokis Ho Pak-kung and Ho Pak-shing on board your junk?
They were on board.
478. Well do you know anyone of that name? Ho Pak-shing-you mean
shing.
479. Do you know him? Oh yes, I know him.
Ho Pak-
480. How do you know him? He is my younger brother on board the same boat. 481. First of all was he on the junk before you were fired at by the submarine? Yes,
he was.
482. Do you know what happened to him after the junk sank? He held on to another
sail and went adrift.
483. Have you seen him since then? Just only that day that he came to see me.
484. Since you came back to Hong Kong and got off the German steamer have you seen your younger brother Ho Pak-shing? He came and saw me in the hospital one day.
485. Where is he now? He has gone to Macao.
486. Tell me I think you were on the mainsail when you were picked up?
Yes.
487. Had you done anything to that mainsail before it floated off from your sinking
junk? No, I did not do anything to it before it came off the junk.
488. Your mainsail is made of matting, is it not? Yes, sir. 489. And that matting is fastened on to poles? Yes.
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