Amethyst Amethyst Amethyst is a violet variety of quartz. The name comes from the Koine Greek ἀμέθυστος "amethystos" from ἀ- "a-", "not" and μεθύσκω "methysko" / μεθύω "methyo", "intoxicate", a reference to the belief that the stone protected its owner from drunkenness. The ancient Greeks wore amethyst and carved drinking vessels from it in the belief that it would prevent intoxication. Amethyst is a semiprecious stone often used in jewelry and is the traditional birthstone for February. Amethyst is a purple variety of quartz (SiO) and owes its violet color to irradiation, iron impurities (in some cases in conjunction with transition
HMS Amethyst (1799) the Île de France some nine weeks earlier and was sailing for Bordeaux with a cargo of cotton, coffee, tea, sugar, indigo, and the like. Still in company with "Nymphe", "Amethyst" captured "Julius Pringle" and recaptured "Active" (4 March) and "Amity" (21 March). Then on 31 March, "Amethyst", with "Nymphe", captured the French privateer "Mars". "Mars" was armed with twenty 12-pounder guns and two 36-pounder obusiers, and carried a crew of 180 men. Cooke described her as being "one of the finest Privateers fitted out of Bourdeaux." The British took "Mars" into service as . "Amethyst" also captured a valuable