F. S. Bell used. F. S. Bell Captain Frederick Secker Bell CB (17 August 1897 – 23 November 1973) of the Royal Navy was the commander of during the Battle of the River Plate in December 1939. He was educated at Matfield Grange, a prep school in Kent, and then at the Royal Naval Colleges of Osborne and Dartmouth. He served afloat in the battleship at the Battle of Jutland, as First Lieutenant of the destroyer in the Reserve Fleet at Devonport, 1923–25, and as executive officer of from 1935–38 and was promoted captain on 31 December 1938. He took command of in
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