Buttrose J:

This action arises out of a fire which occurred on board the MV "Javanese Prince" on 24 July 1954 while working cargo alongside the Singapore Harbour Board Wharves.

The first plaintiffs are the owners of the vessel which was carrying, inter alia, a cargo of kapok, the property of the second and third plaintiffs respectively and a cargo of sugar the property of the fourth plaintiff. The kapok was stowed in No. 5 Upper Tween Decks and the sugar immediately below it in No. 5 Cargo Hold. As a result of the fire both the kapok and sugar were damaged as was also the vessel and her sailing was delayed.

Before the vessel arrived in Singapore a list of repairs required to be done was forwarded through the ship's agents in Singapore to the Dockyard Manager of the Singapore Harbour Board - the defendants responsible for effecting them. Of these repairs only two are material to these proceedings. One was to a section of the main steam line in way of No. 4 aft port winch on the main deck and the other - the vital one - to a section of a steam smoothering line aft of the mast house. This smoothering line, which forms part of the vessel's fire fighting equipment, passes from a junction box on the main deck through the deck into No. 5 Upper Tween Decks and through a bulkhead into No. 4 Hold.

The vessel after its arrival on 23 July 1954 was working cargo in No. 5 Hatch which gives access to No. 5 Upper Tween Decks where the kapok was stowed and also to No. 5 Hold where the sugar was stowed. A number of cases of Jelutong were loaded and stowed in No. 5 Upper Tween Decks alongside the kapok, which was stowed forward and clear of the square of the hatch, while the Jelutong was stowed aft. The working of the cargo continued until about 11 o'clock that night and No. 5 Hatch was closed and was not opened again until the following afternoon after the fire had been discovered.

Cargo work was continued on 24 July but not at No. 5 Hatch and the repairs to the steam line in way of No. 4 aft port winch and to the steam smoothering line were also carried out. These necessitated the use of an oxy-acetylene burner by the defendants. There is a conflict of evidence as to when these repairs were done on 24 July but it is, I think, common ground that the one to the smoothering line, at any rate, was done in the afternoon some time between 1 and 2.30 p.m.

This smoothering line or pipe was held at deck level by a steel collar to which the pipe was welded and the collar in turn was welded to the deck. A section of this pipe was cut out by the defendants' employees using an oxy-acetylene burner and it was cut at deck level below the covering of the junction box and the collar was also burnt off from the deck - all the burning being done above deck.

After the burning the cut end of the pipe was about level with the hole in the deck the pipe having a clearance of about a quarter of an inch. The hole in the deck was on the centre line of the ship almost directly above the forward bales of kapok stowed to within a very short distance of the underside of the deck.

At about 4.15 p.m. the same afternoon smoke was noticed coming from the ventilators to No. 5 Hold and from the underside of the hatch covers. The ships officers and crew immediately went into action and the Fire Brigade was summoned No. 5 Hatch was opened and the kapok observed to be on fire. Hoses were played on the burning cargo and after some half an hour the fire subsided and the discharging of the kapok began. By 7.30 p.m. all the apparent burning bales had been discharged and the remainder off-loaded before midnight.

The plaintiffs' case is that in burning off the section of the smoothering pipe at deck level some incendiary matter fell on to the kapok underneath and ignited it and that the defendants were negligent in that they failed to ascertain whether it was safe to use burning equipment and failed to exercise due care or take proper precautions with regard to its use.