F. S. Bell Falkland Islands. The captain, eight officers and 79 members of the crew were given the Freedom of the City of Exeter on 29 February 1940, and were welcomed by a crowd of 50,000 cheering residents. The crew marched through the streets with fixed bayonets, carrying HMS "Exeter's" shell-torn White Ensign through the streets. Bell also commanded in 1945. He retired from the Navy owing to ill health on 8 January 1948. In the 1956 film "The Battle of the River Plate", Bell was played by John Gregson. During the film, Bell's nickname of 'Hookie', because of his distinctive nose, is
HMS Amethyst (1799) days. Still, the ship was too badly damaged to salvage and by 10 March wave action had broken up the hull. The subsequent court martial found Walton and Robert Owen, the master, negligent and reprimanded both for allowing "Amethyst" to be anchored so close to shore with only one anchor. The court also barred Owen for a year from serving in anything larger than a sixth rate. Notes Citations References HMS Amethyst (1799) HMS "Amethyst" was a Royal Navy 36-gun "Penelope"-class fifth-rate frigate, launched in 1799 at Deptford. "Amethyst" served in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars, capturing