CO129-613-8 Reports on Kwang Tung incident 1-2-1948 - 2-6-1948 — Page 32

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.