SUCCEEDED BY ONLY NARROW MARGIN

Chronicle (Levin), 1 August 1949, Page 5

SUCCEEDED BY ONLY NARROW MARGIN

Received Monday, 9.55 a.m. LONDON July 31. The N.Z.P.A-Reuter correspondent Air. William Parrott, aboard H.M.S. Jamaica, off the China coast, says

that the Amethyst's operation succeeded by a narrow margin, for the ship reached safety with only two hours' fuel supply remaining. The Amethyst raced down the river at an average speed of 22 knots, of which five or six were provided by the Yangtze current. At this speed, and in pitch darkness, she negotiated the varying currents, sand banks and sharp turns. When Communist shore batteries tried to prevent her flight to freedom, she hit back with her guns. A naval statement said that the sloop, after noiselessly slipping her cable, followed the stern of a passing steamer, which was soon challenged by flares. The Amethyst c'ontinued on, but very soon came under artillery and machine-gun flre from four well-placed batteries. A Chinese Communist gunboat was in the same area and was hit and set on flre by the Communist guns. Signals from the Amethyst says that she hit back when passing Kiangyin batteries, about 40 miles down the river from her starting point. She fired one round from her main armament and a large amount of Bren and Oerlikon. The Amethyst was not hit but started a flre ashore. Every man was at his actioii or damage control station for eight hours during the 150-mile trip down the river, while the depleted en-gine-room staff, who had already repaired the £methyst's previous action damage, now had the strain of 'maintaining full speed.