Empire Windrush

The "Empire Windrush" was a ship that is an important part of the history of multiracialism in the United Kingdom. The "Empire Windrush" arrived at Tilbury on 22 June 1948, carrying 492 passengers from Jamaica wishing to start a new life in the United Kingdom. The passengers were the first large group of West Indian immigrants to the UK after the Second World War.

The arrival of the passengers, and the image of the Caribbean passengers filing off the vessel's gang plank, has become an important landmark in the history of modern Britain, symbolising the beginning of modern multicultural relations which were to change British society significantly over the following years. In 1998, an area of public open space in Brixton was renamed Windrush Square to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the arrival of the West Indians.

Before 1948, the ship had been used for cruises in pre-war Germany, and then as a German troopship, before being captured by the British and taken as a war prize. She continued to be used as a British troopship after 1948, but sank in the Mediterranean Sea in March 1954 after a sudden and catastrophic fire in her engine room.

Early history of the ship

The diesel-powered motor ship was built by Blohm & Voss in Hamburg, Germany and launched on 4 December 1930. She was delivered to "Hamburg-Südamerikanische-Dampfschiffahrts-Gesellschaft" (Hamburg South American Steam Shipping Company) in 1931, which named her "Monte Rosa" and used her for cruises. Many passengers on these cruises were aboard as privileged Nazi Party members, as part of the Nazi Strength Through Joy programme, intended to reward and encourage party members and as a reward for services to the Party.

During the Second World War, the ship was used as a barracks ship at Stettin, then as a troopship for the invasion of Norway in April 1940. She was later used as an accommodation and recreational ship attached to the battleship "Tirpitz", stationed in the north of Norway, from where the Tirpitz and her flotilla preyed on Allied convoys en route to Russia. By 1945, the ship was in the Baltic, being used as a refugee evacuation ship rescuing Germans trapped in East Prussia and Danzig by the advance of the Red Army.

In May 1945, the "Monte Rosa" was captured by advancing British forces at Kiel and taken as a prize of war. The following year the ship was assigned to the British Ministry of Transport and converted into a troopship. She was renamed HMT "Empire Windrush" on 21 January 1947, for use on the Southampton-Gibraltar-Suez-Aden-Colombo-Singapore-Hong Kong route, with voyages extended to Kure in Japan after the start of the Korean War. The vessel was operated for the British Government by the New Zealand Shipping Company, and made one voyage only to the Caribbean before resuming normal trooping voyages.

West Indian immigrants

In 1948, the "Windrush" was en route from Australia to England via the Atlantic, docking in Kingston, Jamaica. An advert had appeared in a Jamaican newspaper offering cheap transport on the ship for anybody who wanted to come and work in the UK. At that time, there were no immigration restrictions for citizens of one part of the British Empire moving to another part. The arrival of the boat immediately prompted complaints from some Members of Parliament, but legislation controlling immigration was not passed until 1962. Among the passengers were calypso musicians Lord Kitchener and Lord Beginner alongside sixty Polish women displaced during the Second World War [http://www.multicultural-matters.com/polish_community.htm] .

The arrivals were temporarily housed in the Clapham South deep shelter in south-west London, less than a mile away from the Coldharbour Lane Employment Exchange in Brixton, where some of the arrivals sought work. Many only intended to stay for a few years, and although a number returned to rejoin the RAF the majority remained to settle permanently.

Later history of the ship

She set off in February 1954 on what proved to be her final voyage, sailing from Yokohama and Kure to the United Kingdom with approx 1,500 recovering wounded United Nations veterans of the Korean War, including soldiers from the Duke of Wellington's Regiment wounded at the Third Battle of the Hook in May 1953. The voyage was plagued with engine breakdowns and other defects, taking ten weeks to reach Port Said, from where the ship sailed for the last time.

An inquiry later found that an engine room fire began after a fall of soot from the funnel fractured oil-fuel supply pipes. The subsequent explosion and fierce oil-fed fire killed four members of the engine room crew. The fire could not be fought because of a lack of electrical power for the pumps because the back-up generators were also not in working order, and the ship did not have a sprinkler system. The lack of electrical power also prevented many lifeboats from being launched and the remainder were unable to accommodate all the survivors, who were mostly clad in their nightclothes. Many were in the water for up to six hours before rescue vessels appeared to take them to Algiers, where they were cared for by the municipal authority and the French Army.

The first ship on the scene was the Alfred Holt, Blue Funnel Line, wartime victory ship, S.S. "Mentor" which rendered assistance and picked up the first survivors.

The burned-out hulk of "Empire Windrush" was taken in tow by the destroyer HMS "Saintes" of the Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet, 32 miles northwest of Cape Caxine. HMS "Saintes" attempted to tow the ship to Gibraltar in worsening weather, but "Empire Windrush" sank before first light the following morning, Monday 30 March 1954.

tatistics

*Tonnage: GRT|13,882|first=yes, 7,788 net, DWT|8,530|long|first=yes
*Dimensions: 500.3 × 65.7 × 37.8 feet.
*Motor vessel: twin screws; oilfuel; 2 × 2 MAN diesels, single reduction geared: 4-stroke single-acting. 6,880 hp each (27,520 hp in total).
*Maximum speed: 14.5 knots.

ee also

*British African-Caribbean community

References

*"Sea Breeze", various contemporary issues.
*"The Daily Express", 20 June 1954, for a report of the Strength Through Joy programme, archived in WO 32/15643 at the Public Record Office and the British Library Newspaper Library, London.
*Board of Trade Inquiry Report, archived as BT 239/56 at the Public Record Office.
*War Office files on the loss, archived as WO 32/15643 at the Public Record Office, including contemporary press clippings.
*Report of the British Consul in Algiers for the Foreign Office, archived at the Public Record Office as FO 859/26, including recommendation to invite the Mayor of Algiers to London, an invoice for services rendered by the French Army in Algeria, a full passenger list, and letters from passengers.

External links

* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/modern/arrival_01.shtml Oral history of passengers on the Windrush from BBC history]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/modern/windrush_01.shtml Empire Windrush from BBC Arts]
* [http://www.pro.gov.uk/virtualmuseum/maingalleries/empire/passengers/default.htm Passenger List from the Public Record Office]
* [http://www.oomgallery.net. Reflections] (Film for Windrush Productions, Dir: Pogus Caesar)
* [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/DisplayCatalogueDetails.asp?CATID=92818&CATLN=4&FullDetails=False Board of Trade 'Inwards passenger lists, 1948' Subseries within BT 26 Record Summary - held at The National Archives (UK), Kew, Richmond, Surrey.]
* [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/museum/item.asp?item_id=50 Windrush settlers arrive in Britain, 1948 - treasures of The National Archives (UK).]
* [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/museum/additional_image_types.asp?extra_image_type_id=2&image_id=69 Windrush settlers arrive in Britain, 1948 – Transcript]