Part 3

Q--Mr. Halvorsen, on the 15th of March, 1955, where was your ship, the Fernhill?

A--It was in Hong Kong.

Q--And did you have any conversation with a visitor to the ship?

A--Yes, I was talking to him.

Q--Will you explain what conversation you had and with whom it was?

A--The man was a tailor and he said to me that he wanted to talk about some business down in my cabin.

Q--Had you ever met him before?

A--No.

Halvorsen recalled that he had talked to the Chinese tailor about the price of a suit. Several tailors had boarded the Fernhill to solicit orders as soon as the ship dropped anchor. Most of the ship’s crew had placed orders for suits, but Halvorsen had decided the price was more than he could afford. It was after this that the tailor--a well-dressed man of medium height with a wart on the lobe of his left ear--whispered to Halvorsen that he would like to talk to him alone in his cabin.

Q--What did he say when he talked about this other business of smuggling?

A--He asked me if I wanted to make some money.

Q--What did you say?

A--Yes, I said.

Q--Then what did he say?

A--He said, “I can give you opium if you will take the opium to San Francisco.” He said that if I would do this for him he would pay me $1,200 American.

Q--What did you say then?

A--I was not sure if I wanted to do it or not, but I did not say no.

In the transcript of Halvorsen’s story, the young seaman referred to the narcotics sometimes as opium and at other times as cocaine and heroin. The narcotics in each case was heroin, a derivative of opium highly favored by drug addicts in the United States.

The tailor then wrote an address on a slip of paper--No. 54 Cameron Road--and pressed it into Halvorsen’s hand. “If you decide you want the money, come to this address at seven o’clock tonight.”

By six o’clock that evening, Halvorsen had reached a decision. The sum of $1,200 sounded like a small fortune to the boy who had never in his life had more than a few dollars at one time. It was more money than he could save in many months at sea--enough to buy an interest in a fishing boat back in Norway.

Halvorsen dressed in his best blue trousers and white shirt for the trip ashore. When he left the Fernhill he carried a briefcase which the Chinese had suggested he bring along. He hailed a rickshaw at the ferry slip near the Peninsula Hotel, and gave the address on Cameron Road. Then he sat back to enjoy the gaudy, East-meets-West sights of Kowloon as the coolie trotted through streets swarming with Chinese, most of them refugees from Red China.

After he stepped from the rickshaw and paid the driver, he stood uncertainly at the curb looking about for the number 54. A Chinese came up to him and said, “You looking for Number Fifty-four?” Halvorsen said he was, and the man said, “You follow me.”...

Q--Where did he take you?

A--He took me inside the house and into a corridor. We turned right and there was a door. He knocked on the door.

Q--Was the house No. 54, Cameron Road, ground floor, Kowloon, Hong Kong?

A--Yes.

Q--Was there any number or anything written on the door of the corridor?

A--I don’t remember.