yangtse incident : the story of h . m . s . amethyst
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yangtse incident: the story of h. m. s. amethyst (1957 )
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‎yangtse incident: the story of h. m. s. amethyst (1957) directed by michael anderson • reviews, film + cast • letterboxd
h. m. s. consort was ordered to the rescue of amethyst .
yangtse incident the story of h. m. s. amethyst / a wilcox - neagle production; screenplay by eric ambler; produced by herbert wilcox; directed by michael anderson .
the full and true story of the yangtze incident has never been told but it is a story that has to be told, it is not a story about one ship the h. m. s. amethyst, and its amazing escape from the yangtze river, its not a story about four british royal navy ships, as in fact there were five ships involved, h. m. s. consort, h. m. a. s. shoalhaven, h. m. s. amethyst, h. m. s. london and h. m. s. blackswan .
the story of the amethyst is indeed glorious but please also let the full true story be known .
there is the book “the yangtze incident, by lawrence earl, published 1952” only four years after the incident. mr earl’s story is more or less a story about one of the ships involved in the yangtze incident (h. m. s. amethyst) .
there you have the damage report of h. m. s. consort .
yangtse incident [ videorecording ]: the story of h. m. s. amethyst / a wilcox - neagle production; screenplay by eric ambler; produced by herbert wilcox; directed by michael anderson. – national library
true story of how hms amethyst escaped from the chinese revolution in 1949. the story is fascinating but the film far too long .
the glorious story of h. m. s. amethyst, the official report produced by the navy league in co - operation with the admiralty. entry concerning hms concord ;
the photographs below were taken at hung joa cemetery in shanghai at the time of the ceremonial burial of ten ratings from h. m. s. consort, twelve from h. m. s. london, one from h. m. s. amethyst, and a chinese, yangtze river, ships pilot .
technical adviser who commanded h. m. s. amethyst during much of the period of the story, and whose exceptional help is gratefully acknowledged (as commander j. s. kerans d. s. o. r. n. )
when h. m. s. consort, on the 20 th april 1949 tied up alongside of h. m. s. london, the london was fully operational and as such was able to transmit to the admiralty reports on consorts damage and condition. h. m. s. london’s ships company with consort along side were getting a gruesome insight into the damage and carnage flowing from a rescue attempt of amethyst, what must have been the mixed emotions and thoughts of h. m. s. london’s ships company on viewing that .
captain peter grenville lyon cazalet. d. s. o. , d. s. c. , royal navy, h. m. s london
when commander kearn’s wrote the forward to lawrence earl’s book yangtze incident within the foreword the third paragraph begins, “this story deals only with h. m. s. amethyst, ” that is fair comment by kearn’s which i accept as such believing that he read the material he was writing a foreword too or for .
the true story of one of the most daring actions in modern royal navy history .
in 1949, during the chinese civil war, british warship h. m. s. amethyst sails up the yangtse river but on the return trip finds its way blocked by a barrage fire from the communist chinese shore batteries .
photograph of british sloop hms magpie in the atlantic, the sister ship of amethyst. magpie stood in for the moving shots of hms amethyst in the film yangtse incident in 1957, based on the actual events .
within the house of commons on the 26 th april 1949 prime minister, mr clement attlee, two days after the five ships companies from h. m. s. consort, amethyst, london, black swan and h. m. a. s. shoalhaven, among others were burying some of the dead from the yangtze incident, at hung joa cemetery in shanghai made a statement concerning the yangtze incident .
the tributes above were sent to or for simon of hms amethyst, who was awarded the dickin medal in 1949 for gallantry under enemy fire. read simon' s story for the account of the yangtse incident itself and how he came to receive his' animal vc' .
a news cutting from 1949 reporting h. m. s. consorts arrival at hong kong the terms within the news cutting are noteworthy .
neither the book nor the film comes anywhere near to the truth of the overall yangtze incident as it was, and how the incident came about, the yangtze incident is a story that has yet to be told, it’s a frightening story that has been covered up by government deceit and deception that is an on going saga to this day .
our featured feline at the head of the page is simon of hms amethyst. he remains the only cat ever to have been awarded the dickin medal for gallantry under enemy fire, in what became known as the' yangtse incident' (1949). read simon' s story .
in pointing out these matters i will attempt to provide an even clearer picture of h. m. s. consorts involvement in the yangtze incident, soon by way of a documentary it will be made even clearer by re - enactment, but in the meantime read into what it was like on board h. m. s. consort .
the yangtze river and china - this map was prepared for the
wahnsein incident
that took place just 30 years before. the story of the amethyst played out between nanking and shanghai
the hopes of those onboard in respect to being rescued were again raised on learning that the county class cruiser, h. m. s. london would be coming to amethysts rescue. on the morning of 21 st april 1949 the date set for the invasion and invading forces of the c. c. p in crossing the yangtze in force on the upper reaches of the yangtze at points that were above and below where the amethyst was aground h. m. s. london accompanied by h. m. s. black swan, were ordered up river to rescue the amethyst .
note: this is a companion page to our story of simon, of hms amethyst who was awarded the dickin medal for gallantry under enemy fire in 1949. you should read the main story for the account of the yangtze incident itself and how simon came to receive his' animal vc' .
this telegram was to prevent an international incident as cold war tensions were high and it removed any official mention of the concord’s involvement in the yangtze incident .
in may of 1949 h. m. s. consort was the last royal navy ship to be stationed at nanking she relieved h. m. c. s. crescent, our listening post’s stationed there for the purpose of transmissions, from that station came learning of american war equipment being landed from ships at formosa, the connotations of a nationalist second front with u. s. a. involvement or support .
much has been written about that termed the yangtze incident of 1949. within the house of commons there exists columns of hansard papers relative to the incident .
because of earl’s book and subsequent film yangtze incident that, in reality was about one ship the amethyst this has distorted the nation’s view of the incident and royal navy history. on the web, there is a royal navy profile site; in the history section there is no mention of the yangtze incident or the ships involved .
on the 21 st april 1949 h. m. s. london, a county class cruiser a ship with a seventeen feet draught, in the company of h. m. s. black swan was ordered up the yangtze to attempt the rescue of amethyst as stated previously they got to within twenty miles of amethyst, before having to retire. both of those ships were ordered into a war zone on a date known to be the invasion date of chinas civil war .
in producing the photographs of h. m. s. consort this allows an insight to some extent of what it must have been like to have been on board h. m. s. consort during one hundred minutes of the ships life span of ten years on the far east station, one hundred minutes from the time of receiving the signal from the amethyst, in the first instance (under heavy fire. am aground. large number of casualties) .
the letter was acknowledged by dr lewis moonie, m. p. , of the m. o. d. and dated 14 th november 2000 .
meanwhile, the cruiser h. m. s .
london
( captain cazalet), wearing the flag of flag officer second in command, was also proceeding up the yangtse at best speed. the three ships
london ,
black swan ,
and
consort
met at kiang yin
the story of h. m. s. amethyst, the frigate which became famous for its exploits on the yangtse in 1949. while on a legitimate, peaceful mission on the yangtse river, the amethyst is fired upon by chinese forces, with great loss of life, and comes to a standstill in a mudbank. for some weeks she remains there, unable to move for fear of destruction, while the navy negotiates with the chinese colonel ping, who wants the british government to claim that the amethyst illegally opened fire first. finally, the amethyst makes a break for freedom, under cover of darkness, hoping to be able to escape the shelling from the communist forces that line the river for many miles in both directions .
surgeon lieutenant john michael alderton, m. b. , b. s. , royal navy .
for gallantry, skill and determination while in command of hms amethyst in the planning and execution of her daring passage down the yangtse river when she escaped from chinese military forces .
in conformity with the decision to remain at nanking, his majesty' s ships had been relieving one another at that port at regular intervals for some months past. on this occasion the object of the passage of h. m. s .
amethyst
was to relieve h. m. s .
consort
at nanking. opposing chinese forces had been massed along the banks of the yangtse for a considerable time and there were repeated rumours for some weeks that the communists were about to cross the river. h. m. s .
consort
was already overdue for relief, but this relief was postponed in view of a communist ultimatum which was due to expire on april 12 and which might have been followed by the crossing of the yangtse. on april 12 his majesty' s ambassador learned that the ultimatum had been extended to april 15. the relief had therefore still to be postponed. only on april 18 was it learned that the final expiry of the ultimatum might lead to the crossing of the yangtse by the communist forces on april 21. the necessity for relieving h. m. s .
consort
as early as possible remained. she was running short of supplies after a long stay at nanking and in any case a frigate was considered more suitable than a destroyer to be stationed at that port .
i will at this point briefly summarise the losses and damage which resulted. the casualties were: h. m. s .
london ,
13 killed, 15 wounded; h. m. s .
consort ,
10 killed, 4 seriously wounded, h. m. s .
amethyst ,
19 killed, 27 wounded; h. m. s .
black swan ,
7 wounded. in addition, 12 ratings are still missing. of the damage to the ships, the
london
suffered the most severely, having been holed repeatedly in her hull and upper works. the damage to the
consort
and the
black swan
was less serious .
london
and the
black swan
have already completed their emergency repairs. the
amethyst
suffered severe damage but was repaired by the efforts of her own crew to be capable of a speed of seventeen knots .
story [ based on the book by lawrence earl and an idea by associate producer franklin gollings ] is of the amethyst, which, battered though not beaten, broke the chinese communist blockade and rejoined the british fleet. the amethyst is shown sailing up the yangtse, headed for nanking on a lawful mission delivering supplies to the british [ … ]
signals were sent to the admiralty and the shoalhaven was stood down and h. m. s. amethyst was thereafter selected to take the shoalhaven’s place, and recalled from sea to do so. in the book, yangtze incident by lawrence earl, there is a reference to h. m. s. amethyst beginning her journey up the yangtze river at 9 a. m. , on the 20 th april 1949 and doing so with full clearance from the then government of china. that statement is then followed by a further statement to the effect “ even to - day it is not clear why the amethyst was fired upon. then you have the question by the author, “was the “first salvo” a deliberate, sneering affront to britain and the royal navy? ”
h. m. s. consort in reaching amethyst made three valiant efforts to take amethyst in tow. to this day the overall valour and seamanship that went into those three efforts has never been fully recognised. as a result of the damage and casualties that was inflicted upon h. m. s. consort, she had to retire from the action. ten of her ships company were dead and a great many wounded for some of the wounded their naval careers ended. that night 20 th april 1949 h. m. s. consort tied up alongside of h. m. s. london, while the some of the wounded were being transferred on to the london for medical attention engineers from the london were assisting in repairs to the consort that would provide passage to shanghai. when it became known that the london and black swan were going to attempt rescuing the amethyst, almost to a man consorts ships company those not wounded were volunteering to take part in the rescue their request were refused as it was necessary to get the ship to shanghai .
when the yangtze incident occurred on the 20 th of april 1949 involving h. m. s. amethyst and your ship consort, shock waves reached and rocked london, then on the 23 rd of april a transmission from shanghai, at a time when arrangement’s were being put in place for the ceremonial burial there, the significance of what was found on board h. m. s. consort that day sent shock waves through out the admiralty and the diplomatic core in london, an un - exploded shell was found on top of h. m. s. consorts number one boiler, great care had to be taken in removing the shell, on inspection it was found to be of u. s. a. origin and unstable. the shell had penetrated the ships hull and came to land on top of the number one boiler, had it exploded in coming into contact with the boiler that would have resulted in consort sinking with a broken back, on deliberation of the location where that shell was found and up until the time of it being found h. m. s. consort was the equivalent of a mine primed and ready to explode. to my astonishment, and this lives and remains with me to this day, in the damage report for h. m. s. consort prepared for the admiralty and sent to london the reported finding of the shell on the number one boiler was omitted. ”
opening credits prologue: the story of h. m. s. amethyst is true and this dramatic reconstruction of it was shot with all possible accuracy in and aboard amethyst herself. the producers' apologies are due, however, to the officers and ships' companies, the chinese interpreter and many others whose parts in the original action have not been portrayed. these omissions have been dictated solely by the limitations of screen time. to the admiralty, the war office and the air ministry, to commanders - in - chief, officers and ratings of h. m. ships and other naval establishments who have contributed so much to the making of this film, the producers tender their sincere thanks .
the story of the so - called yangtse incident and the saga of hms amethyst has been told and retold in the press and over the radio of the world, but i shall attempt to give a more personal account as it affected my wife and myself; and it affected us very closely, for bill skinner, the late commanding officer and his wife, monica, were very dear friends of ours, and of course we knew the other officers .
consort was ordered to the rescue of amethyst, h. m. s. consort stationed at nanking was stationed there as guard ship to the british embassy and nationals out there, there were no other warships at nanking therefore by ordering consort to the assistance of amethyst the british embassy, ambassador his staff and british nationals were left unprotected .
the first photo is the deceptive version of the yangtze incident the propaganda version helping to delude and hide the truth, the second photo exposes the elusion created by the film in matters appertaining to the yangtze incident .
dont know if its been published on here before? anorak news » rip jack french d. s. m: remembering hms amethyst not too long ago rip .
with consort enroot great hopes were being placed on her ability to elevate amethysts problems and rescue the ship from its existing situation. h. m. s. consort with its motto loyal and steadfast was not about to let what must have been the hopes of those on amethyst down .
, john longden, basil longden, basil radford, george merritt, j. h. roberts, jerry verno, h. f. maltby, pamela carme, torin thatcher, frederick piper
m - 55 quad 50s, 44th artillery, 108th artillery grp. at khe sanh
there was an authority that could have and should have been contacted whether by right or in courtesy to ensure safe passage, because of those wrongful acts attempts by the means of deceit and deception have been the order of the day to cover up the true story of the yangtze incident .
now in this computer age with all the search engines that are available, you only have to type in yangtze incident, or britain’s small wars, and there you have a few pages where some individual is more or less reiterating what has already been stated and some have gone to the extent of producing what they would have as a photographic story of the yangtze incident .
october 13, 1949: hms amethyst passing through suez canal en route home following the yangtze incident. (photo courtesy of robert w. green ,
ono of the topics of conversation among us was the news item of january 1991 the desecration of the yangtze incident graves at hung joa, cemetery, shanghai .
the communist people’s liberation army led by mao tse tung and the nationalist kuomintang are at each other’s throats on the banks of the river yangtze during china’s war of liberation .
in 1949 a chinese frigate sailed up the thames but we saw the blighters off. but that' s another story. this film is about the british frigate that sailed up the yangtze and was fired upon by treacherous chinese communists. after a prologue showing the british soldiers going about their peaceful business, the film divides into three parts. first, the attack, the captain seriously injured and the h. m. s. amethyst damaged and grounded; second, richard todd taking command of the ship and the negotiations with the people' s revolutionary army; finally, the ship sneaks off, dodges assaults and reaches the safety of the ocean. (yes, i' ve given the story away, but the film is based on a historical event and much of the…
well that particular photograph depicts a scene from the yangtze incident film; it depicts and portrays the young gunnery officer, the then lieutenant hett, standing in front of the single barrelled boffer, manned and in the stood too position, behind the rating to the right and rear of the gun you can see the top part of the ships funnel, so what this tells you is that you are looking at a photograph of h. m. s. amethyst port side on .
returning to the yangtze incident and in particular to clement attlee’s, statement for a moment. in that statement there is no mention of who gave the order that sent the amethyst on its journey up the yangtze .
to day in this present time questions are being asked as to the legality of committing british service personnel to war in iraq, this at a time when the very large question mark hangs over the yangtze incident. this short story will provide an insight into the truth of the yangtze incident, that fifty - three years of british government deceit and deception has covered up .
h. m. s. consort, a “c” class destroyer built on the river clyde, and belonging to the british royal navy, was guard ship to and for the british embassy at nanking on the yangtze river she had been there for some time and her relief was long over due and her stores were depleted. the relief ship was h. m. a. s. shoalhaven, which was at shanghai and should have relieved the consort on 16 th april 1949 the relief did not take place. the shoalhaven was stood down. you are not told that in the book or film about the yangtze incident .
also within my knowledge was the fact that in march of 1999 h. m. s. boxer visited china and during that visit admiral sir michael boyce in the company of a chinese admiral laid a wreath on the waters of the yangtze in memory those who died in the yangtze incident. a very noble gesture, but on learning of the gesture, in my mine i questioned it because only those killed on board the amethyst were committed to the waters of the yangtze and it was people from the amethyst who provided the news supportive of the defamatory allegations that the graves of those buried in hung joa
much has already been written concerning h. m. s. amethyst and her detention by the communists' people' s liberation army in the yangtse kiang, not only in the press but in official documents; a detailed account would now be redundant. political considerations debar certain details and, in addition, publication of other matter might be prejudicial to the safety of certain people still in communist - occupied china. it is intended to attempt, in the following paragraphs, to try and elaborate on some of the less publicized points and bring out certain salutary lessons learnt. there will, therefore, be no co - ordinated and co - related
story
in the strict sense .
the necessary equipment and expertise for repairing h. m. s. consort had to be shipped out from britain to singapore, as the damage inflicted upon the ship was to such an extent, the ship would never have made the journey to britain for the necessary repairs required .
i can relate to three instances that occurred on board h. m. s. consort where valour occurred that was well above and beyond the call of duty, but by the fact that selection for awards was via the hat those three recommendations were not pulled from the hat .
when h. m. s .
amethyst
was fired upon by communist forces, his majesty' s ambassador instructed his majesty' s consular officer in charge at peking to communicate to the highest competent chinese communist authority, by whatever means possible, a message informing them of this and seeking the issue of immediate instructions by them to their military commanders along the yangtse to desist from such firing. a subsequent message emphasised the urgent need of medical attention of the casualties and reiterated the request for instructions to prevent further firing upon these ships of the royal navy engaged in peaceful and humanitarian tasks. the local communist authorities, however, refused to accept the consul' s letters .
by the very fact that i have mentioned h. m. a. s. shoalhaven, this will have some in high office cringing, good, as it may well be constructive to the present day government and to the admiralty whilst being destructive to the deceit and deception that has been allowed to exist for the past fifty odd years relative to the yangtze incident .
thus early on tuesday, april 19, the frigate h. m. s .
amethyst
( lieutenant - commander skinner) sailed from shanghai for nanking, wearing the white ensign and the union jack and with the union jack painted on her hull. when
amethyst
reached a point on the yangtse river some sixty miles from nanking, at about nine o' clock, chinese time, in the morning of the 20th, she came under heavy fire from batteries on the north bank, suffered considerable damage and casualties and eventually grounded on rose island
this is a short book relating to an incident that occurred on the yangtze river of china, 20 th, 21 st april 1949 where four royal navy ships were by order sent on suicide missions. on these ships h. m. s. amethyst, consort, london and black swan, servicemen serving on board three of the ships were killed, on all four of the ships servicemen were wounded, this happened at a time when great britain was at peace, but it was an incident that took us to the brink of a third world war .
the signature of the commander in chief on that documents dated 22 nd december 1945 some eight months from the time of the incident was indeed an order. it’s an order of the day that ties him into the deceit and deception of what went on and into the yangtze incident, and that is established by the terms within the second paragraph of his order of the day in relating to amethyst, and the action taken by consort .
i have briefly related to the fact that consort while along side of h. m. s. london received some assistance in repairing damage that was inflicted during her attempts at rescuing the amethyst, repairs that were essential in order to provide safe passage to shanghai, also mentioned is the fact that some from consort’s ships company who had been wounded were transferred to the london for medical attention. lets now pick up the story from there and in so doing i am doing so with a vengeance for several reasons that will become clear .
story [ based on the book by lawrence earl and an idea by associate producer franklin gollings ] is of the amethyst, which, battered though not beaten, broke the chinese communist blockade and rejoined the british fleet. the amethyst is shown sailing up the yangtse, headed for nanking on a lawful mission delivering supplies to the british embassy. suddenly, without warning, the red shore batteries open fire and the frigate, after a heavy engagement, is grounded in the mud .
on page 32 of earl’s book yangtze incident, he introduces lieutenant - commander j. s. kearns, into that book in the fashion “one of several involved in the relaying of that first message from amethyst to the ambassador was the embassy’s assistant naval attaché, john simon kearns. his rank was that of lieutenant commander. at the time he had no idea how vitally important the amethyst affair would become to him. ”
since, april of 1949 the incident has taken on the term yangtze incident, helped along by a book publication and film by that title, the film production, yangtze incident has been described as an epic production, and every so often television viewers are subjected to a re - run, of that alleged epic film .
below is a photograph taken of h. m. s. amethyst when she arrived at hong kong after the ships escape from the yangtze river, in this photograph it can be seen that the ship was shot up and the scars are visible. this photograph shows the starboard side of the ship and i have encircled the boffer gun sponson area in the centre of the photograph. to the left of the photo you can see the ships - funnel .
we' re grateful to elaine fowler for telling us about this cast - iron doorstop that she came across. although it isn' t a great likeness of simon, the base clearly says' hero of h. m. s. amethyst'. we know nothing about it, except that elaine says it' s' quite large and very, very heavy', so we think perhaps it was produced at the time of simon' s return to england in 1949, after the yangtze incident. does anyone know anything about this remarkable object ?
i have just read the true story of hms concord by william leitch rn (hms consort) and the true story it played in escorting hms amethyst. my father served on hms concord at the time of the incident, he was a radar operator. his name was r. c. r catt jx760425. what i have just read is the story he told me time and time over again. although didn' t know about the ships log. when the yangtze incident film was on tv he always watched it but got so cross every time at the end, as he always said that' s not what happened they have got it wrong. do you think they may posthumously award a medal to the sailors that were aboard the concord? if so i would like to accept it on his behalf. christine giles
when that happened the amethyst was selected and ordered to take the shoal havens place as we now know, we also now know according to attlee, and his statement made to the house of commons, that at the time of the incident on the yangtze river, h. m. s. amethyst was going about her lawful occasion. that being the case, by what we also know now, from december of 1948 all british war ships making passage on the yangtze would during passage be stood too, in readiness to respond to artillery fire from communist forces on the north of the river .
in the disturbed conditions which have prevailed in recent months, warships of various powers have been at shanghai and nanking so that in the event of a breakdown of law and order as the result of hostilities they would be able to assist in the evacuation of their nationals. when the chinese government decided to move to canton, it is true that a warning was issued about warships in the yangtse. nevertheless it is a fact that since that time the movements of our warships in the yangtse have taken place with the full knowledge and consent of the national government of china. i want to make the point, therefore, that, when the incident took place to which i am about to refer, h. m. s .
amethyst
was proceeding on her lawful occasions, and that there was no other properly constituted authority to whom his majesty' s government were under an obligation to notify her movements even had they been in a position to do so .
h. m. s. consort is seen here coming into shanghai. wounded rating being assisted from the ship, and the dead being carried past a guard of sailors and u. s marines. this was at a time when the ship was the equivalent of an un - exploded mine with an un - exploded shell of u. s. a. origin lying on top of the number one boiler. (picture on next page. )
earl’s book yangtze incident at page fourteen. quote * even to - day it is not clear why amethyst was fired upon. was the first salvo a deliberate, sneering affront to britain and the royal navy ?
there is no explanation as to why the soviet union exempted from the decision to remain at nanking there is no mention of the fact there were consultations between the british and australian powers represented there in nanking that brought about the decision to have the australian war ship h. m. a. s. shoalhaven stood down from the duty of relieving h. m. s. consort. in having the shoal haven stood down the australian powers were exempting them from the lunacy of sending a war ship into the internal and territorial waters of a nation involved in civil war and in particular into what amounted to be the war zone without having taken the necessary and required precautions for safe passage .
this is a short introduction to the hms amethyst incident in the yangtse river when she was fired on by communist forces with heavy losses to herself and those ships that attempted to rescue her. the london gazette lists the honours awarded but did not include an official despatch. in its place the proceedings of the house of commons as recorded in hansard have been quoted. these cover events in some detail until around the arrival of commander kerans to take over command. his own account - from
the naval review
- continues the story until her escape and rejoining the fleet .
( now separated and will go our devious way), when h. m. s. consort was ordered to the rescue of the amethyst the british embassy there was without direct communication with london, england. h. m. s. consort was in fact the listening post between london and the embassy at nanking. lieutenant commander kearns was the embassy’s naval attaché and through him went all incoming and outgoing signals. kearns was in fact by his position london’s spy, monitoring the day to day situation as it was, it fell to him keep london informed of all events including that of others involved in the cold war that existed between britain the u. s. a. and the soviet union. what was the u. s. a. and the soviet union up to that was the real importance of having a ship stationed at nanking the ship was not spying it was being used as a tool its ears the communication system .
it was at this time that i learned that robin cook, m. p. was due to hold a constituent’s surgery at broxburn, west lothian. mr cook, at that time was the british foreign secretary; it was time to bend his ear on the matter of the yangtze incident and the graves from that incident. “someone with high profile as well as high office. ”
when h. m. s. consort, at nanking, picked up that flash signal the response was immediate. the british embassy at nanking was informed the british ambassador sir ralph stevenson stationed at nanking immediately sent dispatches to the c. c. p. headquarters requesting an immediate cease - fire .
since the time of that incident and up until the present time in this year 2003 there has never been a judicial or public enquiry into the overall yangtze incident in order to ascertain the legalities or illegalities of that incident. fifty - four years on and into the present, the government of today is attempting to avoid a judicial or public inquiry into the legalities of the right or wrongs of having gone to war in iraq .
photograph of british sloop hms black swan. during the yangtze incident, the ship fell back after unsuccessfully trying to rescue hms amethyst, suffering casualties of 46 killed and 64 injured and severe hull damage .
chief petty officer henry william robinson, g. m. , d / jx 133428, hms consort .
h. m. s. amethyst, did not begin her journey up the yangtze river on the 20 th april 1949 the amethyst begun her journey on the 19 th of april 1949 and in beginning her journey on that date she did not have clearance or consent from the nationalist government in china, clearance or consent came from the nationalist after the amethyst had begun her journey on the 19 th of april 1949. the amethyst on reaching kiang yin, on the 19 th april 1949 was ordered by signal from a nationalist gun boat, to drop anchor and darken ship, as the nationalists had forbidden the movements of ships on the yangtze after dark .
without a doubt many other cases of bravery and devotion will be revealed when all the facts are known. but we already have ample evidence that the conduct of the whole ship' s company of h. m. s .
amethyst
was beyond all praise, though a considerable proportion were young sailors under fire for the first time. we have had reports of seamen and marines remaining at their task for up to twenty - four hours, though badly wounded, and of men declining to have their wounds treated until cases they considered more urgent had been dealt with. i have heard too that in h. m. s .
london
and
black swan ,
when there was a possibility of volunteers being flown to
amethyst ,
there was almost acrimonious rivalry for selection to take on this heroic task .
in 1991 in scarbourgh i met up with ex - servicemen from the 8 th destroyer flotilla and squadron association, far east 1945 - 59 the ships represented there were h. m. s. cossack, constance, consort, contest, cockade, comus, comet, concord and charity .
if there was any initial misunderstanding as to the nationality of h. m. s .
amethyst .
this would have been speedily resolved had the authorities in peking acted on his majesty' s ambassador' s message. moreover, had the communist authorities objected in the past to the movement of british ships on the yangtse, it was always open to them to raise these through our consular authorities in north china. it is the fact that for reasons best known to themselves the communists have failed to notify any foreign authority present in areas which they have occupied of the channels through which contact can be maintained, and that they have rejected all communications made to them. in these circumstances, his majesty' s government can only reserve their position .
reply 1 sept. 4, 2008 the name
tanner
does not appear on our crew list for the yangtze incident. in all probabilities he was a wartime member of the crew. you could check his service records, m. o. d. site. best wishes, charlie chivers rn amethyst association
what must have been the thoughts of the p. l. a, as one thing is certain they had not been notified of amethyst’s intention or movement ?
bandmaster frederick george harwood, r. m. b. x. 368, royal marines. hms london .
the concord was soon met by the hms cossack and the cossack’s captain boarded the ship. he ordered the concord to patrol northern china and removed the ship’s log book – taking with him any evidence of the concord’s involvement .
h. m. s. amethyst, at dawn on the morning of 20 th april weighed anchor and began making her way up river, about an hour into her journey because of fog and treacherous currents, at the insistence of the chinese pilot the amethyst, dropped anchor. the amethyst was completely enshrouded in fog neither the north or south bank of the river was visible to the naked eye so this can well be a situation of vice versa between the ship and shore. radar would have played a part in this situation so far as the amethyst was concerned, as radar would have pointed out the shorelines of both banks of the river as well as the movement of the large flat bottomed vessels ploughing their trade on the river, those vessels would appear as mere blips on the radar screen .
nevertheless, it is a fact that since that time the movement of our war ships in the yangtze have taken place with the full knowledge and consent of the national government of china. i want to make the point therefore that when the incident took place to which i am about to refer, hms amethyst was proceeding on her lawful occasions and that there was no other properly constituted authority to whom his majesty’s government were under an obligation to notify her movements even had they been in a position to do so. ” unquote. the part played by h. m. s. consort is also covered in the public statement .
the sea cadet corps unit of welwyn garden city and hatfield in england is called ts amethyst and has close links to the famous ship of that name; in fact, lt cdr stewart hett, formerly of the ship, is their unit president. in summer 2006 the unit moved into new accommodation and then set about enhancing their associations with amethyst and her story. this initiative included proposed visits by cadets to all the amethyst - related sites in the uk .
all this time, consort had been coming down river from nanking and somewhere around 2 p. m. appeared in sight of amethyst, saying she would make an attempt to tow them off .
here an analysis to the above paragraph is necessary and will arm the readers with knowledge and insight into matters concerning the yangtze incident .
when lieutenant commander kearns brought the ship h. m. s. amethyst out of the yangtze river he brought back the evidence of the wrongful acts and omissions of those responsible for sending the ship on a suicide mission in the first instance a ship that did not have the capacity for defensive action, such as responding to being fired upon, a war ship with no teeth and encircled on the photograph is the irrefutable photographic evidence of that fact, her orlikin or boffor guns were not on - board .
if the hopes of rescue by those on board amethyst were dashed then those same hopes of rescuing the amethyst for those of consorts ships company were also dashed and heartfelt considering the cost of what went into that rescue attempt .
“by the time of amethysts escape from the yangtze, shanghai was under the control of the c. c. p. and the peoples liberation army, during amethysts escape no ratings on board were killed. however on the 24 th april 1949 one of the wounded from amethyst on 20 th april who died from his wounds, was among those who reached shanghai having travelled overland from where the ship was grounded in the first instance and amethysts captain, who died from his wounds, was at the behest of his family committed to the sea from h. m. s. consort, while on route to hong kong from shanghai”. i also pointed out that it should be the government’s property services agency who should be dealing with the matter graves regardless of that agency’s comment that had also been published, (“i’m afraid we cannot find the file”) a typical comment in most matters relating to the yangtze incident .
on a peaceful mission, hms amethyst was unexpectedly atacked by the chinese people' s liberation army on the north bank of the yangtse river. with rescue attempts blocked by the chinese communist army, for many weeks the situation remained in deadlock, until finally, lieutenant - commander john s. kerans realised he must make a dangerous decision - trust their captors to release them, or run the gauntlet of communist batteries down 140 miles of hostile territory .
while waiting on a reply to that letter i decided to take other steps to have matters concerning the yangtze incident resolved, one way was to draw attention to the farce concerning the graves, so i made up a placard with the prime ministers letter as a centrepiece surrounded by photographs that told the story concerning the graves and the duplicity attached .
reference has been made here to the book “hostage on the yangtze written by the author malcolm murfett. i. s. b. n 0870212893” the story took shape in the first instance as a thesis of naval event the yangtze incident, due to the amount of research to produce the theses a book came to life and it provides an insight into the yangtze incident, that in this country britain, government departments would prefer to keep under lock and key and in my opinion that is why, malcolm murfett in his book concludes, with the question, “why” .
when h. m. s. consort arrived at shanghai, dr wedderburn treated eight - one of consorts ships company for wounds. who is dr wedderburn? dr wedderburn, was a doctor who in the company who in the company of a pilot in a sunderland flying boat flew over the yangtze and witnessed consorts approach and efforts in attempting to rescue the amethyst, in witnessing such dr wedderburn, later wrote it down in explicit detail as both he and the pilot at the time both were of the opinion it was beyond belief it may well be that dr wedderburn, read earl’s book and in so doing was prompted into his writing of the book “lotus garden” i have personally read the eye witness account of what both the doctor and pilot witnessed. from what can only be described as a bird’s eye view of the action taken by h. m. s. consort, her approach at speed, her devastating fire power that knocked out the p. l. a. battery’s during her three attempts to take amethyst in tow, the hits she was taking while putting in such an effort but what they were witnessing with unbelief was that there was no one to be seen on the upper decks of the amethyst .
simon’s resting place at the pdsa animal cemetery in ilford. his gravestone reads: ‘throughout the yangtze incident, his behaviour was of the highest order. ’ author: acabashi cc by - sa 3. 0
reply 1, aug. 12, 2013 i' ve just been watching yangtze incident for the umpteenth time and have been captivated by the story since i was a boy. whilst working in blackpool in the late 1960' s i met the mother of george winter. she described in detail how she had a premonition of georges death. i don' t think she ever got over it. mike coyle
yangtse incident : the story of h.m.s. amethyst ( 1957 ) is a british war film that tells the story of the british frigate hms amethyst caught up in the chinese civil war . it was based upon the book written by lawrence earl . the film was known in the us by the alternative titles battle hell , escape of the amethyst , their greatest glory and yangtze incident . non-english language titles include the direct german translation of yangtse-zwischenfall , and commando sur le yang-tse in france . in belgium it was known as feu sur le yangtse ( french ) and vuur op de yangtse ( flemish/dutch ) , both meaning " fire on the yangtse " . the film was entered into the 1957 cannes film festival . 
yangtse incident: the story of h.m.s. amethyst (1957) is a british war film that tells the story of the british frigate hms amethyst caught up in the chinese civil war. it was based upon the book written by lawrence earl. the film was known in the us by the alternative titles battle hell, escape of the amethyst, their greatest glory and yangtze incident. non-english language titles include the direct german translation of yangtse-zwischenfall, and commando sur le yang-tse in france. in belgium it was known as feu sur le yangtse (french) and vuur op de yangtse (flemish/dutch), both meaning " fire on the yangtse ". the film was entered into the 1957 cannes film festival.
yangtse incident: the story of h.m.s. amethyst (1957) is a british war film that tells the story of the british frigate hms amethyst caught up in the chinese civil war. it was based upon the book written by lawrence earl. the film was known in the us by the alternative titles battle hell, escape of the amethyst, their greatest glory and yangtze incident. non-english language titles include the direct german translation of yangtse-zwischenfall, and commando sur le yang-tse in france. in belgium it was known as feu sur le yangtse (french) and vuur op de yangtse (flemish/dutch), both meaning " fire on the yangtse ". the film was entered into the 1957 cannes film festival.