Amethyst Incident

The ''Amethyst'' incident, also known as the Yangtze incident, was a historic event that occurred on the Yangtze River for three months in the summer of 1949, during the late phase of the Chinese Civil War. The incident involved the Communist People's Liberation Army (PLA), who were in the process of a river-crossing offensive to overthrow the Nationalist Government, and four British Royal Navy ships , , and . The British warships, whose claimed right of passage along the Yangtze had been unchallenged previously since the 1858 Treaty of Tientsin with the late Qing dynasty, came under bombardment by PLA artillery and were forced to withdraw permanently from Chinese territorial waters.

The incident was described in the British press as a dramatic escape, while it has been widely celebrated in the People's Republic of China as a milestone incident that marked the end of Western gunboat diplomacy in China and as one of the last nails in the coffin for the Century of Humiliation.

Description

On 20 April 1949, during the Chinese Civil War between the nationalist Kuomintang-led Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party, the Royal Navy sloop , commanded by Lieutenant Commander Bernard Skinner, was cruising on the river Yangtze from Shanghai to Nanjing,Nanjing was then romanized as Nanking and is situated on the Yangtze River to replace , which had been posted as guard ship for the British Embassy there. According to the Royal Navy, at about 08:31, after a burst of small arms fire, a People's Liberation Army (PLA) field gun 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 by the ship's officers to be part of a regular bombardment of Nationalist forces on the south bank. Therefore, ''Amethyst'' ignored the warning and continued to cruise towards Nanjing. Speed was increased, and large Union flags 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 ''Amethyst'' approached Jiangyin (then romanized as Kiangyin) further up the river, it received sustained fire from a second PLA battery, as the PLA may have considered that the ship had violated the "stay away warning" from the war zone; additionally, the PLA may have thought ''Amethyst'' might attack and therefore began firing 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 wounded mortally, 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 river's 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.

Lieutenant Geoffrey L. Weston, the ship's first lieutenant, 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 bombard ''Amethyst'' causing more damage and casualties aboard.

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 Communist 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, with the assistance of the Chinese Nationalists the next day. Both parties were taken to a missionary hospital in Jiangyin, where they were met by a party from the British Embassy in Nanjing, and put on a train for Shanghai. Remaining aboard were about 60 unwounded men. The shelling had stopped, but no one could move on deck 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 more than fifty hits and holes below the waterline were plugged with hammocks and bedding. Rear Admiral Alexander Madden, the second in command of the East Indies Fleet, ordered the destroyer (Commander Robertson) to go from Nanjing, to ''Amethyst''s assistance, and the frigate (Captain Jay) to go from Shanghai to Jiangyin, down river from ''Amethyst''. ''Consort'' was sighted, flying seven White Ensigns and three Union flags, steaming down from Nanjing, at .

''Consort'' reached ''Amethyst'' at about three o'clock in the afternoon and was immediately bombarded. The shelling was too heavy to approach ''Amethyst'' and ''Consort'' therefore passed the other ship at cruising speed down river. ''Consort'' then turned and again closed on ''Amethyst'' to take the ship in tow, but ''Consort'' was again bombarded so intensely that it was obliged to abandon the attempt, although it answered the shore batteries with its full armament (including guns) and soon signalled that it had silenced most of the opposition. Half an hour later ''Consort'' made a second attempt to take ''Amethyst'' in tow, having turned downstream again. This attempt also failed and ''Consort'' sustained further damage and casualties during which the ship's steering was affected. ''Consort'' 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 the ship was lightened, and it 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 it moved the batteries bombarded the ship which was finally forced to anchor off Fu Te Wei.

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

On 21 April, a signal was received: "HM ships ''London'' and ''Black Swan'' are moving up river to escort the ''Amethyst'' down stream. Be ready to move." The cruiser , alongside ''Black Swan'', were bombarded intensely 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. (Eventually, in 1988, the PLA commander Ye Fei, admitted that it was his troops that fired first, thinking it was an American naval intervention.) ''Amethyst'' remained guarded by the PLA for ten weeks, with vital supplies being withheld from the ship. Negotiations were ineffectual 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).

Escape

On 30 July 1949, ''Amethysts chain was slipped and the ship headed downriver in the dark, beginning a dash to escape from the Yangtze River by following in the wake of the civilian ship ''Kiang Ling Liberation'', a fully-lit passenger vessel carrying Chinese refugees, allegedly in the hope that the observers ashore would be confused and not see the frigate in the dark, and to follow the path through the shoals taken by ''Kiang Ling Liberation.'' The movement of both ships was spotted, and both were challenged. The ''Kiang Ling Liberation'' answered correctly, whereas ''Amethyst'', upon being challenged, opened fire. When the shore batteries replied, a Communist gunboat in the river began to fire back at the shore. In the confusion the ''Kiang Ling Liberation'' blacked out its lights while the ''Amethyst'' sped past. The fire of the batteries was then directed at the ''Kiang Ling Liberation'', which was sunk by the gunfire, with many civilian casualties.

At 05:00 hours on 31 July, ''Amethyst'' approached the PLA forts at Baoshan and Wusong, which had their searchlights sweeping the river. At 05:25 a planned meeting with the destroyer occurred, at which time ''Amethyst'' sent the signal "Have rejoined the fleet south of Wusong. No damage. No casualties. God save the King".

''Concord'' had been ordered to prepare to provide gun support to ''Amethyst'' if it was bombarded by the shore batteries at Wusong. To achieve this it had moved up the Yangtze during the night, at action stations. Fortunately for the British, ''Amethyst'' was not detected by the shore batteries and the two ships then proceeded downriver until at 07:15 they ended action stations and after passing through the river's outlet arrived at the Saddle Islands at 12:00 hrs to anchor and transfer much needed oil and stores.

After a brief stay at anchor, ''Concord'' transferred members of her own crew to ''Amethyst'' to augment the ship's company, and the two ships proceeded to Hong Kong. Next day the cruiser (flying the flag of the Flag Officer Second in Command Far East Fleet) and destroyer replaced ''Concord'' as escort and proceeded with ''Amethyst'' to Hong Kong. ''Concord'' was sent to Japan, after its complement was sworn to secrecy. ''Amethyst'' subsequently received a message of congratulations from King George VI:

Aftermath

British response

Soon after, on 5 August 1949, Lt Cdr Kerans was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his actions in bringing ''Amethyst'' to safety.

Future Governor of Hong Kong, Edward Youde, was part of the staff of the British Embassy at Nanjing. He negotiated unsuccessfully for the release of ''Amethyst''. Youde was later made a Member of the Order of the British Empire for his actions.

''Amethyst'' had a ship's cat, named Simon, who was wounded seriously 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 to receive this honor.

Chinese response

Chairman Mao Zedong considered the incident a great victory for the Chinese nation. Peng Dehuai later remarked: "The era where Imperialists take over a piece of Asia by simply stacking a few guns, is over and never to return!" Even many of the Nationalist troops on the south bank cheered the Communists as they bombarded the British warships. During the subsequent river crossing, many Nationalist defenders either surrendered, deserted or defected with negligible resistance.

Popular culture

The American radio series ''Suspense'' included an episode entitled "Log of the Marne" (22 October 1951), based largely on the events of the Yangtze incident.

Richard Todd played Kerans for the 1957 movie ''Yangtse Incident: The Story of HMS Amethyst'' (in the USA released most often as ''Battle Hell'', but also as ''Escape of the Amethyst'' and ''Their Greatest Glory''). For the movie, ''Amethyst'' was brought out of storage to play itself. As its engines were no longer operational, , a similar-looking ship, was used for pictures of the ''Amethyst'' moving .

Ted Duran played Kerans in a scene portraying the Amethyst incident in the 2019 movie '' Mao Zedong 1949''.

Notes

References

{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Amethyst'' incident
Conflicts in 1949
1949 in China
Combat incidents
International maritime incidents
Maritime incidents in 1949
China–United Kingdom military relations
Riverine warfare
Shipwrecks of the Yangtze
Jiangyin
Military operations of the Chinese Civil War (1945–1949)
20th-century history of the Royal Navy