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The ''Amethyst'' Incident, also known as the Yangtze Incident, was a historic event which involved the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
ships , , , and on the
Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flow ...
for three months during the
Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on main ...
in the summer of 1949.


Description

On 20 April 1949, , commanded by
Lieutenant Commander Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding rank ...
Bernard Skinner, was on her way from
Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...
to
Nanking Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...
,Nanking is now known as
Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...
and is situated on the
Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flow ...
to replace , which was standing as
guard ship A guard ship is a warship assigned as a stationary guard in a port or harbour, as opposed to a coastal patrol boat, which serves its protective role at sea. Royal Navy In the Royal Navy of the eighteenth century, peacetime guard ships were usual ...
for the British Embassy there during the
Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on main ...
between the nationalist
Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...
-led
Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...
and the
Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...
. According to the Royal Navy, at around 08:31, after a burst of
small arms A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes ...
fire, a
People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five service branches: the Ground Force, Navy, Air For ...
(PLA)
field gun A field gun is a field artillery piece. Originally the term referred to smaller guns that could accompany a field army on the march, that when in combat could be moved about the battlefield in response to changing circumstances (field artiller ...
battery on the north bank of the river fired a salvo of ten shells to warn ''Amethyst'' to stay away from the war zone. The salvo fell well short of the ship, and was assumed to be part of a regular bombardment of Nationalist forces on the south bank. Therefore, ''Amethyst'' ignored the warning and continued to sail towards Nanking. Speed was increased, and large
Union flag The Union Jack, or Union Flag, is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. Although no law has been passed making the Union Flag the official national flag of the United Kingdom, it has effectively become such through precedent. ...
s were unfurled on either side of the ship, after which there was no more firing from this battery.


Initial damage and grounding

At 09:30, as the frigate approached Kiangyin, (now known as
Jiangyin Jiangyin (, Jiangyin dialect: ) is a county-level city on the southern bank of the Yangtze River, and is administered by Wuxi, Jiangsu province. Jiangyin is one of the most important transport hubs on the Yangtze River, it is also one of the most ...
) farther up the river, she came under sustained fire from a second PLA battery, as the PLA may have considered the frigate had violated the "stay away warning" from the war zone. In addition, the PLA may have thought ''Amethyst'' might open fire and therefore opened fire without having been fired upon. The first shell passed over the ship. Then the bridge, wheelhouse, and low power room were hit in quick succession, Lieutenant Commander Skinner was mortally wounded, and all the bridge personnel were disabled. The coxswain on the wheel, Leading Seaman Leslie Frank, was seriously injured and as a result the ship slewed to port and grounded on the bank. Before the ship grounded, the order to open fire had been given, but when the director layer pulled the firing trigger, nothing happened, because the firing circuits were disabled when the low power room was hit. First Lieutenant Geoffrey L. Weston assumed command of the vessel, although he was also wounded himself. PLA shells exploded in the sick bay, the port engine room, and finally the generator, just after the injured Weston's last transmission: "Under heavy fire. Am aground in approx. position 31.10' North 119.20' East. Large number of casualties".Weston gave the wrong latitude in this report; in fact the ship was at 32° 20′N, not 31° 10′N. This could be an error made by the wounded Weston; it could be a transcription error by the signalman; or it could be an error in reading the logs after the event. The order was given to fire in local control with each turret firing independently, but ''Amethyst'' had grounded in such a way that neither of the two forward gun turrets could bring their guns to bear on the PLA batteries, leaving the single stern turret to return fire. This turret was soon hit and disabled. None of the close-range weapons could be brought to bear on the PLA batteries. The shore batteries continued to fire at ''Amethyst'' causing more damage and casualties on board.


Attempted evacuation

Some time between 10:00 and 10:30, Weston ordered the immediate evacuation to shore of anyone who could be spared. A boat was manned to take people the short distance to shore and some men swam ashore. The batteries switched their fire to the men being evacuated and further evacuation was stopped. Fifty-nine ratings and four Chinese mess boys made it to the Kuomintang-controlled southern bank, but two men were assumed drowned while swimming ashore. Those who survived were joined by the seriously wounded from ''Amethyst'' who had been landed by
sampan A sampan is a relatively flat-bottomed Chinese and Malay wooden boat. Some sampans include a small shelter on board and may be used as a permanent habitation on inland waters. The design closely resembles Western hard chine boats like t ...
, with the assistance of the Chinese Nationalists on the following day. Both parties were taken to a missionary hospital in Kiangyin, where they were met by a party from the British Embassy in Nanking, and put on a train for Shanghai. Remaining on board were about 60 unwounded men. The shelling had stopped, but no one could move without drawing the attention of PLA snipers.


Assistance from ''Consort''

By the time the shelling stopped at about 11:00, twenty-two men had been killed and thirty-one wounded. ''Amethyst'' had received over fifty hits and holes below the waterline were plugged with hammocks and bedding. The flag officer, second in command, Far East Station, ordered the destroyer ''Consort'' (Commander Robertson) to go from Nanking, to ''Amethyst''s assistance, and ordered the frigate (Captain Jay) to go from Shanghai to Kiangyin, down river from ''Amethyst''. The destroyer ''Consort'' was sighted, flying seven
White Ensign The White Ensign, at one time called the St George's Ensign due to the simultaneous existence of a cross-less version of the flag, is an ensign worn on British Royal Navy ships and shore establishments. It consists of a red St George's Cross on ...
s and three Union flags, steaming down from Nanking, at . ''Consort'' reached ''Amethyst'' at about three o'clock in the afternoon and was immediately fired upon. She found the fire too heavy to approach ''Amethyst'' and therefore passed her at speed down river. She turned below and again closed on ''Amethyst'' to take her in tow, but again she came under such heavy fire that she was obliged to abandon the attempt, although she answered the shore batteries with her full armament (including guns) and soon signaled that she had silenced most of the opposition. Half an hour later her signals ceased, though she was making a second attempt to take ''Amethyst'' in tow, having turned downstream again. This attempt also failed and she sustained further damage and casualties during which her steering was affected. She therefore had to continue downstream out of the firing area with ten men killed and twenty-three wounded.


Refloating and the arrival of Lieutenant Commander Kerans

''Amethyst'' was re-floated just after midnight on 21 April, after lightening the ship, and she moved up river. The Assistant British Naval Attaché, Lieutenant Commander John Kerans, joined the ship on 22 April, after he had dealt with all the wounded and unwounded men who had been sent ashore. He assumed command of the ship that day. During the next few days ''Amethyst'' moved several times, but each time she got under way the batteries opened fire at her and the ship was forced to anchor, finally finishing up off Fu Te Wei.


Attempted assistance from ''London'' and ''Black Swan''

On 21 April, a signal was received: "HM ships and ''Black Swan'' are moving up river to escort the ''Amethyst'' down stream. Be ready to move." The cruiser ''London'' and the frigate (ex-sloop and ''Amethyst''s sister ship) ''Black Swan'' were heavily shelled as they attempted to help ''Amethyst'' and retreated with 3 killed and 14 wounded.


Negotiations

On 30 April 1949, the Chinese Communists demanded that Britain, the United States, and France quickly withdraw their armed forces from any part of China. During the negotiations the Communists insisted that the British ship fired first, but eventually, in 1988, the PLA commander
Ye Fei Ye Fei (; 7 May 1914 – 18 April 1999) was a Philippine-born Chinese military general and politician of the People's Republic of China. Born Sixto Mercado Tiongco in the Philippines to a Chinese father and a Filipino mother, he joined the Chi ...
, admitted that it was his troops that fired first, thinking it was an American naval intervention. ''Amethyst'' remained under guard by the PLA for ten weeks, with vital supplies being withheld from the ship. Negotiations were stuck because Kerans would not accept the demand of Kang Yushao, the Chinese Communist representative, that he admit the British state had wrongly invaded Chinese national waters. The CPC insisted that it was illegal for ''Amethyst'' to cruise in the
Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flow ...
.


Escape

On 30 July 1949, ''Amethyst'' slipped her chain and headed downriver in the dark, beginning a dash for freedom, running the gauntlet of guns on both banks of the river. She followed the passenger ship ''Kiang Ling Liberation'', carrying Chinese refugees, in the hope that the observers ashore would be confused and not see ''Amethyst'' in the dark. When the battery opened fire, the fire was directed at the ''Kiang Ling Liberation'', which was sunk by the gunfire, with heavy civilian casualties. At 05:00 hours on 31 July, ''Amethyst'' approached the PLA forts at Par Shan ( Baoshan) and Woosung (
Wusong Wusong, formerly romanized as Woosung, is a subdistrict of Baoshan in northern Shanghai. Prior to the city's expansion, it was a separate port town located down the Huangpu River from Shanghai's urban core. Name Wusong is named for the Wus ...
), which had their searchlights sweeping the river. At 05:25 a planned meeting with the destroyer took place, at which point ''Amethyst'' sent the signal "Have rejoined the fleet south of Woosung. No damage. No casualties. God save the King". ''Concord'' had been ordered to prepare to provide gun support to ''Amethyst'' if she came under fire from the shore batteries at Woosung. To achieve this she had moved up the Yangtze during the night, at action stations. Fortunately for the British, ''Amethyst'' was not spotted by the shore batteries and the two ships then proceeded down river until at 07:15 they stood down from action stations and after clearing the river mouth arrived at the Saddle Islands at 12:00 hrs to anchor and transfer much needed oil and stores. After a short stay at anchor, ''Concord'' lent ''Amethyst'' sailors to fill gaps in her ship's company and the two ships set sail for Hong Kong. Next day the cruiser (flying the flag of the Flag Officer Second in Command Far East Fleet) and destroyer took over as escort and proceeded to Hong Kong. ''Concord'' was sent to Japan, after being sworn to secrecy. ''Amethyst'' subsequently received a message of congratulations from King
George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of In ...
:


Aftermath

British response
Soon after, on 5 August 1949, Lt Cdr Kerans was awarded the
Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typ ...
for his actions in bringing ''Amethyst'' to safety. Future
Governor of Hong Kong The governor of Hong Kong was the representative of the British Crown in Hong Kong from 1843 to 1997. In this capacity, the governor was president of the Executive Council and commander-in-chief of the British Forces Overseas Hong Kong. ...
,
Edward Youde Sir Edward Youde (; Cantonese: ''Yau Tak''; 19 June 1924 – 5 December 1986) was a British administrator, diplomat and Sinologist. He served as Governor of Hong Kong between 20 May 1982 and his death on 5 December 1986. Early years Youde w ...
, was on the British Embassy staff at Nanking. He attempted to negotiate the release of ''Amethyst''. His negotiations came to naught. Youde later was made a
Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
for his actions. ''Amethyst'' had a ship's cat, named Simon, who was seriously wounded during the event. After receiving medical care, he recovered and continued to perform his duties catching rats, protecting the dwindling food supply during the 101-day siege and helped boost morale for the surviving sailors. Simon died soon after returning to the UK, having been awarded the Dickin Medal (sometimes referred to as "the animals' Victoria Cross"). He remains the only cat so honoured. Chinese response
Chairman Mao was extremely pleased with the result of the incident. Peng Dehuai later remarked: "The era where Imperialists take over a piece of Asia by simply stacking a few guns is over!". Even Nationalist troops on the South bank cheered the Communists as they fired on the British warships and during the subsequent river crossing, many either surrendered, deserted or outright defected after negligible resistance.


Popular culture

The American ''
Suspense Suspense is a state of mental uncertainty, anxiety, being undecided, or being doubtful. In a dramatic work, suspense is the anticipation of the outcome of a plot or of the solution to an uncertainty, puzzle, or mystery, particularly as it ...
'' radio series included an episode entitled "Log of the Marne" (22 October 1951), largely based on the events of the Yangtze incident.''Log of the Marne'' 1951.
Richard Todd Richard Andrew Palethorpe-Todd (11 June 19193 December 2009) was an Irish-British actor known for his leading man roles of the 1950s. He received a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer – Male, and an Academy Award for Best Actor n ...
starred as Kerans in the 1957 film ''Yangtse Incident: The Story of HMS ''Amethyst' (in the US most commonly released as ''Battle Hell'', but also as ''Escape of the Amethyst'' and ''Their Greatest Glory''). For the film, ''Amethyst'' was brought out of storage to play herself. As her engines were no longer operational, her sister ship, , was used for shots of the ship moving.


Notes


References

{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Amethyst'' Incident Conflicts in 1949 1949 in China Combat incidents International maritime incidents Maritime incidents in 1949 China–United Kingdom relations Riverine warfare Yangtze River