Simon of the Amethyst and the Yangtze Incident

The events we describe in this post occurred in 1949 on
China’s Yangtze River. China was in the midst of a civil war between the
Nationalists, under Chiang Kai-Shek, and the Communists. At the time of the
Yangtze Incident (also called the Amethyst
Incident), the British Embassy was located in Nanking (Nanjing), on the lower
Yangtze River. The embassy was protected by a Royal Navy ship.