This patrol commenced on the west coast, 13^th Sept. 1951. We were to operate in the Han River, close to enemy territory at all times and bombardments would become everyday events, instead of occasional breaks in the monotony.

To enter the Han River, the ship had to negotiate a narrow, twisting channel for fifteen miles between a mass of islands. Due to our lack of knowledge of the surroundings, HMS Cardigan Bay’s pilot met us.

On arrival at the anchorage, HMS Cardigan Bay and HMAS Hawea presented quite a sight - grubby paintwork & hundreds of empty four-inch shell cylinders on deck. To welcome us, they did a short bombardment of unseen targets on the north bank, which lay as a dark line of hills four miles or so north.

Next day Cardigan Bay left and Amethyst took charge of harassing the enemy, protection of the south bank and surveying of the river. Time was consumed organizing the surveying party, familiarizing us with the JML’s (the South Korean equivalent of our ML) and in carrying out our first bombardment.

Over the next two days, the surveying party went upriver along the north bank, checking the channels and filling in the gaps that had not been previously surveyed.

On the third day, the ship ventured up one of the surveyed channels and anchored close to the bank, where she carried out an excellent shoot at trenches and anything that looked hostile. When the tide started to ebb, she nipped back to ‘GUZZ’.

The following day the survey party left again but after two hours signalled, "Am under fire. Do not intend risking my sextant any further. Am returning to ship". In five minutes, the JML had been hit five times but luckily there was only one casualty, a Korean sailor with shrapnel in his arm. By now the JML was racing down KINGSWAY until the shells started falling astern and she slowed to navigate UNION ST. This was only managed after going aground twice and then waiting two hours on the mud for the flood tide.

This opposition by the North Koreans held up the survey of rocks in ‘FORE ST’, so to overcome this, the ship went up to cover the surveyors and had a regular field day of shooting up anything likely to hide a gun. However, this did not prevent the North Koreans firing two mortar bombs, which splattered in the mud alongside the ship. The ship herself presented quite a sight at this time and the surveying party had a beautiful stern view of her, every gun trained on the beam at the north bank, belching hundreds of rounds at an unseen enemy. Her cable was out taut on one side, showing the strain of the tide and at times she appeared to jump like a tethered stallion or heeled over with the combined effect of gunfire and tide. Needless to say, Commander Fanshaw did not have a very enviable job, fighting the enemy and the tide, and at the same time ensure that the surveyors could do their work uninterrupted along this stretch of FORE ST. In doing so, he earned for himself from the ratings, the title of, "Fan of the Han".

Flag Officer, Second in Command, was the next to visit the area and the ship conducted him on a tour along various channels upriver. During this event, he was given a grandstand view of what a small ship can do with a combination of four-inch guns and Bofors. He was heard to exclaim, "Excellent!" when the Bofors put a line of shells in a stretch of trenches from one end to the other and the four-inch guns put all their shells on the top of a hill and into an observation post. No easy task.

After taking FO2 downriver and back to HMS Belfast, we met St. Brides Bay, to whom we handed over and left for Kure, Japan, where we stayed for six short days before returning to the east coast of Korea. This was to have been our first east coast patrol but no sooner had we arrived off Wonsan and our orders were changed. We crossed the 38^th Parallel to an island named Chodo, occupied by friendly forces.

Next day, up the Han River again, this time with, St. Brides Bay and routine was much the same as before with regular bombardments and air strikes. We decided to send out the survey party again on the third day but this time along ‘UNION ST.’ which should have been out of range of enemy guns but wasn’t! From the JML, it appeared the enemy shells were all in line and lazily creeping nearer and nearer.

To those on board, it was very soothing to hear the navigator give the order, "Hard a starboard, back to the ship". An order the Korean sailors easily understood.

This would be the last survey in the river, as it was obvious the enemy had bigger and better guns and could control any movement upriver in either channel. Really, it was now of no consequence, as we knew just how far the ship could go.

The rest of the patrol was one of bombardments and controlling air strikes. During one of the latter by Corsairs from USS Rendova, one of them ditched near ‘KINGSWAY’. In a minute or so, it had sunk but the pilot managed to get into his dinghy safely. Then the race was on to get St. Brides Bay’s motorboat across ‘DEVONPORT PARK’ before he was shot or captured.

During the ensuing drama, every available pair of glasses was focussed on the enemy bank for signs of movement. Strange to say, there was none and the pilot was retrieved safe and sound. The St. Brides Bay signalled USS Rendova that they had him and would ransom him for fifteen gallons of ice cream, which was duly paid. This was wrongly reported in the Newspapers as being Amethyst’s prank.

Two days later relieved by Taupo and sailed for Sasebo. On the way involved in typhoon. This went to prove radar’s full worth in bad visibility, as with its help, the navigator was able to take the ship through the narrow, awkward, swept channel to Sasebo along with the tanker we had escorted from Inchon.

Sailing from Sasebo after a busy five days, the ship again proceeded to the Han, this time to keep company with Taupo. Every day, spotting parties would disappear into the hills, loaded down with wireless sets, guns, maps, binoculars and 'Jack Dusty’s' sandwiches. At the same time, our survey party joined Taupo’s and surveying was carried out down channel. During this patrol, the aircraft used were Sea Furies from HMAS Sidney and on the fifth day, one had the misfortune to come down on the south bank. Actually, this was an ideal crash site, as the pilot had time to fly over the ship and alert us as to where he hoped to come down. When he eventually hit the deck, his chums circled the place until our rescue party reached him.

Two days later Taupo left taking the downed pilot and our navigator, who returned that same evening piloting the first destroyer to appear in the Han - HMS Comus. Her presence, with a much greater gun range than ours, probably inspired the Captain. The next day, as if to show them we were still ‘good kids’, Amethyst steamed down river, along ALBERT ROAD to THE HOE, this time with Corsairs from Rendova for air cover. As we were passing the point BARBICAN, the Yanks reported AA fire from the hill and again, Amethyst’s Bofors showed their worth as the pilot reported, "Putting them right amongst em"! Our four-inch also did some good shoots at inland targets, which were otherwise out of our range. On returning to GUZZ, we felt very relieved that we had come through unscathed on our last move in the Han before leaving for Hong Kong.

Next morning, relieved by HMS Black Swan and Amethyst left the Han for seven months before returning for further operations against the ‘Reds’.