The Empire Windrush was a ship that has played an important part in the history of multiculturalism in the United Kingdom. The Empire Windrush arrived at Tilbury on the 22^nd 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 50^th anniversary of the arrival of the West Indians in London on board the S.S. Empire Windrush.

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 in March 1954 after a sudden and catastrophic fire in her engine room.

As a symbol of the variety of different communities who have come to Britain and enriched Britain’s cultural life over the centuries, the Empire Windrush is unparalleled. It is for this that she will be remembered forever.

Her Early History (1930 – 1939):

The diesel-powered motor ship was built by Blohm & Voss in Hamburg, Germany and was launched on the 4^th December 1930. She was delivered to Hamburg-South America Line (now known as Hamburg Sud) in 1931, which named her Monte Rosa. Designed as a passenger cruiser with the capacity to carry 1,372 people, the 500ft vessel sailed the South American tourist route between Hamburg and Buenos Aires, the Argentinian capital. 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.

The Second World War (1939 – 1945):

During the Second World War, the Monte Rosa 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 war prize.

Troopship Service for the British Government (1946 – 1948):

In 1946 the ship was assigned to the British Ministry of Transport and converted into a troopship at the Alexander Stephens & Sons shipyard in Glasgow. She was renamed HMT Empire Windrush on the 21^st January 1947, for use on the Southampton – Gibraltar – Suez Canal – 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. However it was this one voyage that would make history.

The Windrush Voyage (1948):

In 1948, the Empire Windrush was en route from Australia to England via the Atlantic, docking in Kingston, Jamaica. An advert had appeared in a Jamaica newspaper offering cheap transport on the ship for anybody who wanted to come and work in the UK. The fare for a place on the troop deck was a cut-price £28 and 10 shillings. When the Windrush departed on May 24th, 1948, it had 300 passengers below deck and 192 above, from the colonies of Jamaica and Trinidad. At that time, there were no immigration restrictions from citizens of one part of the British Empire moving to another part.

The arrival of the boat immediately promoted complaints from some MPs in London, 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. Most of those who bought tickets were ex-service personnel, who had fought on the British side during the war. They were promised jobs would be waiting for them, and some looked forward to joining (or rejoining) the RAF. Others were just curious to see what they thought of as the “mother country” at first hand. Over the years “the Windrush generation” and their families have become integral to Britain’s society. The Empire Windrush took a month to reach England, eventually docking at Tilbury in Essex on the 22^nd June 1948.

The arrivals were temporarily housed in the Clapham South deep shelter in south-west London, This was one of a network of constructions beneath the underground stations, designed as refuges during the wartime bombing. Before the end of war, the one at Clapham South had been used for holding German and Italian prisoners-of-war. The shelter was less than a mile from the nearest labour exchange (job centre), on Coldharbour Lane in Brixton. As the men spread out into local accommodation, they marked the district’s debut as a multi-racial community. Many only intended to stay for a few years, and although a number returned to rejoin the RAF the majority remained to settle permanently. Although the atmosphere turned out to be far from welcoming when they first arrived, 202 of the passengers found work straight away. The newly-founded National Health Service was a major source of employment for some – others worked in factories and mills – but the largest employer was London Transport. Their role was to play a part in the reconstruction of Britain, which was emerging from the shadow of the Second World War.

Though the climate may have been a shock to the system, and the welcome was often not as warm as they might have hoped, the Windrush passengers were about to make a deep and lasting impression on the national culture.

Just one of their creative influences was calypso music – Trinidadian star Lord Kitchener launched his British singing career when he serenaded reporters on the dockside with London Is The Place For Me.

As a symbol of the variety of different communities who have come to Britain and enriched Britain’s cultural life over the centuries, the Empire Windrush is unparalleled. The story of the S.S. Empire Windrush is a story of ambition, courage and hope. Her legacy will live on forever.

Her Final Years (1948 – 1954):

In February 1954 the Empire Windrush set out 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 burned-out hulk of Empire Windrush was taken in tow by the British 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 sadly sank before first light the following morning, Monday the 30^th March 1954.