ANXIOUS DAYS BEFORE AMETHYST ESCAPED

Chronicle (Levin), 4 August 1949, Page 7

ANXIOUS DAYS BEFORE AMETHYST ESCAPED

Received Wednesday 7 p.m. LONDON, August 3. It is iiow disclosed that oue of the chii'f difficulities in the way of organisiug the Amethyst 's eseape, was eaused by the fact that wlien the ship was Iirst damaged by (1onunuuist shore batteries, lier secret codes were destroyed to pievent the possibility of them falling into ('ommunist hauds. As a resuit eon.imin'H'ations between the Xaval t'oinmaiider-in-Chief, Fa'r East, and i.ieiitenaiu-Conunaiider Kerans, had to be condueted in the eleav and phrased iu such a way that tliev would not arouse Comniunist suspicions. Tlie iirst indication that Lieut-Com-matider Keraus might be eontemplating uiaking a dasli for safety, came on ,] ulv 7 wlien he signalled the Coinmauder' in-t'hief : " What shall 1 do in the event of a tvphoon?" Believing Lieut-Comiuander Kerans was trving' to convev a double meaning, the Uommandei'-in-Chief replied: "Golden rule of making an oll'ing aiul takinu plenty of sea room applies." Later in the iuonth, however, a ly jdioDii did actually strike the area on the Yangt/e near the Amethyst. It is not disclosed exaetly how the Commander-in-Chief eventually estabiished direet coinniunication with Lieut-Commander Kerans but Admiraltv stateniriits niake it clear that the captaiu's intention to attempt an eseape was knowu and fully approved. Difficult Communists For sume time past negotiations between Lieut-Coininander Kerans and the Chinese Communist forees manning the forts along the Yangtze, had been beeoniing steadily more difficult. LieutCominander lverans endeavoured to estabiish eontact with the Commander-in-Chief of the Chinldang frontier head(piarters, General Yuan Chung-Hsen but for some tiiue could not go further than ihe Chinese colouel who commanded the liatteries which iirst slielled and dainaged the Amethyst. This man, Colonel Kang Nao Cliao, made repeated efi'orts to persuade Lieut-Commander Kerans to sign a statement admitting that the Amethyst iiret opened iire and when this was refused, he became very abusive and difficult. As a ineans of bringing pressure to bear on Lieut-Commander Kerans, the Communists refused to allow any repienishment cf fuel stores or provisions with the exeeption of small quantities of x egetables and eggs. Tliey refused to aiiow some fresh wireless valves to be takou, on board and coniiscated a set of Admiralty charts sent from headquarters. A single consignment of stores and mail which did arrive was serious.v pilfered. Finally tlie Coinmander-in-ohief came to ihe conclusion that Colonel Kang was acting without tlie aute. >rity of General l'uan and instructed 1 .icut-Commander Kerans to have 110 inrtlier dealings with the colonel. On ,J n ly 22 the General finally agreed to re!'c:\ e Lieut-Commander Kerans but once again this nieeting only led to renewed 'irmands which were obviously intend ed to force the British to accept f'ulJ j . -punsibility for the shelling of the Amethyst. Matters had reached a waiua! impasse with the Amethyst 7s suppiies of fuel steadily dwindiiug, wlien Limii-Coniiuauder Kerans made his successful dasli for the sea.