The 946-ton British freighter Nigelock, a converted wartime corvette loaded with fruit and vegetables, steamed through the China Sea one velvet night last week, outward bound from Communist Shanghai to Communist Amoy. At-first light, a gunboat appeared on the port bow and ordered the Britisher to heave to. Not me, said Nigelock's captain, and rang for full steam ahead. His radio crackled an S O S to the British destroyer Cockade, on patrol in the Formosa strait.
By 11 a.m., the interceptor had pulled within range. She flew the flag of the Chinese Nationalist navy, and her machine-gunners opened...