NEWS CHRONICLE,
Monday, April 25, 1949
More Yangtse casualties are named
Seriously wounded
... Roblin, Stanley Thos., D/MX 49524 C.E.R.A (Portsmouth) ; ...
The Shields Evening News,
Tuesday, April 26, 1949
Page 1
LOCAL AMETHYST MAN MOVED TO U.S. SHIP
Reported yesterday to have been injured in the back of the leg on the crippled, shell battered Royal Navy sloop, Amethyst, on the Yankste, Chieh Engine Room Articifer Stanley Thomas Roblin, of 35 Norman Terrace, Willington Quay, [Wallsend] is now reported in a telegram received by his ex-wren wife, to havebenn transferred to the U.S. hospital ship Repose.
Mrs Roblin, before her wedding Nancy Thompson, told The Evening News today that all the mental torment and fear she had endured during the past six dayswere at last over.
She said that her 31-year-old husband, a Portsmouth man, was due home in September, but it was now probable he would be back much sooner.
Married three years ago at St. Paul's Church, Willington Quay, [Wallsend] C.E.R.A. Roblin was posted to the Far East 18 months later. He had been on the Amethyst 12 months.
Mrs Roblin said that her husband had been in two near-escapes during the war. Punjabi, cleaved in twoby a battleship, and the second when the destroyer Virago was sunk by the Japanese in 1944.
The Evening News,
Wednesday, April 27, 1949
Hurt in China shelling
Now in the U.S. hospital ship Repose is Chief Engine Room Artificer Stanley Thomas Roblin of 35 Norman Terrace, Willington Quay. He was injured in the leg during the shelling of the sloop Amethyst in the Yangste River. A Portsmouth man. Mr Roblin was married three years ago at St Paul's Church, Howden, He has been in the Amethyst 12 months.
EVENING NEWS
FRIDAY, MAY 26, 1950
Page 10
Ex-Amethyst E.R.A. Is Model Yachtsman
ONE of the competitors in the model yacht racing at the Canoe Lake, Southsea is Chief Engine Room Artificer Stanley T. Roblin, who was wounded in H.M.S. Amethyst and is eventually to be invalided from the Service. He helps to sail the yacht of his father Mr. K Roblin of 50, Walmer Road, Fratton.
SUNDAY SUN
SUNDAY, AUGUST 6, 1989
Page 4
Heroes' HourEscape bid that touched the nation
THEY were men who played their part in one of the most heroic incidents in naval history.
Men from HMS Amethyst who, 40 years ago, were at the centre of world adulation following a valiant escape from communist troops in the Chinese Civil War.
The ship, 180 miles up the Yangtse river, had been under siege for three months. There had been 17 deaths on board, diplomatic talks had broken down, and there were fears the long cat and mouse game with rebel forces would end in a bloodbath.
Lieut-Cdr John Kerans, later MP for Hartlepool, gave the order to slip anchor under cover of darkness. The great escape was on.
The crew, some of them from the North, became major celebrities. Medals were awarded, civic presentations held, public meetings packed.
Those from the North-East were given a 12-hour civic reception, including a standing ovation at the Empire Theatre, Newcastle, on their return home.
The vessel had been trying to get food supplies th British diplomatic staff in Nanking when it was subjected to heavy shelling and ran aground
Other ships which went to the Amethyst's aid were also fired on and forced to abandon their mission.
Among the frist wave of casualties was Stanley Thomas Roblin, whose address at the time was Norman Terrace, Willington Quay, Wallsend.
Stanley was among those who were evacuated to Shanghai in an administrative blunder by friendly nationalist troops -- Kerans thought they were going to a makeshift hospital on a nearby island. It was they who brought the world first news of what happened>
Stanley, now retired in Fareham, Hampshire, still feels the effects of shrapnel wounds to his arms and legs.
He said: "It went aground and that's when I was wounded. The nationalist troops carried us on stretchers to a railway station and put us on a train to Shanghai.
Stanley, now 72, was told about the vessel's eventual escape when he was in naval hospital in Plymouth. He was there for two years.
