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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 HMS Amethyst, HMS Black Swan, HMS Consort and HMS London. 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.
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 HMS Amethyst, commanded by Lieutenant Commander Bernard Skinner, was cruising on the river Yangtze from Shanghai to Nanjing, to replace HMS Consort, 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 [citation needed] Amethyst to stay away from the war zone.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed] 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. [citation needed]
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.[citation needed]
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".
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.
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.
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 HMS Amethyst, HMS Black Swan, HMS Consort and HMS London. 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.
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 HMS Amethyst, commanded by Lieutenant Commander Bernard Skinner, was cruising on the river Yangtze from Shanghai to Nanjing, to replace HMS Consort, 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 [citation needed] Amethyst to stay away from the war zone.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed] 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. [citation needed]
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.[citation needed]
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".
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.
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.
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