The 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. Image File history File links Windrush. ... Image File history File links Windrush. ... Italian ship-rigged vessel Amerigo Vespucci in New York Harbor, 1976 A ship is a large, sea-going watercraft. ... Multiracialism is term for an ideology which emphasizes the use of policy to promote tolerance and exchange between races, while respecting cultural independence along ethnic lines. ... Tilbury is located on the north bank of the River Thames, in the borough of Thurrock in England, at the point where the river suddenly narrows to about 800 yards/740 metres in width. ... June 22 is the 173rd day of the year (174th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 192 days remaining. ... Year 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1948 calendar). ... Roadtown, Tortola The term British West Indies refers to territories in and around the Caribbean which were colonised by Great Britain. ... Immigration is the act of moving to or settling in another country or region, temporarily or permanently. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ...

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. Brixton is an area of South London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth. ...

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. A cruising sailboat anchored in the San Blas Islands, in Panama. ... USS John Land (AP-167) in San Francisco Bay sometime in 1945-46; soldiers crowd the decks in anticipation of homecoming. ... A prize of war is generally military items from a war or battle, typically at sea, that the winning side can claim after they have either defeated the enemy or after the enemy has surrendered. ... For the landmasses surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, see Mediterranean Basin. ... In a ship, this is where the Main Engine(s), Generators, Compressors, Pumps, Fuel Purifiers and other major machinery are located. ...

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-Sudamerikanische Dampfs 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. Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel (1858-1913), inventor of the Diesel engine. ... On April 5, 1877, Hermann Blohm and Ernst Voss founded the Blohm & Voss Schiffswerft und Maschinenfabrik shipbuilding and engineering works as a general partnership. ... Hamburg from above Hamburgs motto: May the posterity endeavour with dignity to conserve the freedom, which the forefathers acquired. ... December 4th redirects here. ... Year 1930 (MCMXXX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link is to a full 1930 calendar). ... A cruising sailboat anchored in the San Blas Islands, in Panama. ... The Nazi Party, officially known as the National Socialist German Workers Party (German: , or NSDAP), was a political party in Germany between 1920 and 1945. ... Strength Through Joy (German:Kraft durch Freude (KdF)), was a large state-controlled leisure organization in Third Reich, a part of the German Labour Front (Deutsche Arbeiterfront (DAF)), the national German labour organization. ...

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. Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... Motto: none Voivodship West Pomeranian Municipal government Rada miasta Szczecina Mayor Marian Jurczyk Area 301,3 km² Population  - city  - urban  - density 413 600 1372/km² Founded City rights 8th century 1243 Latitude Longitude 14°34E 53°26N Area code +48 91 Car plates ZS Twin towns Berlin-Kreuzberg... USS John Land (AP-167) in San Francisco Bay sometime in 1945-46; soldiers crowd the decks in anticipation of homecoming. ... Operation Weserübung was the German codename for Nazi Germanys assault on Denmark and Norway during World War II and the opening operation of the Norwegian Campaign. ... For other uses, see Battleship (disambiguation). ... Tirpitz was the second Bismarck class battleship of the German Kriegsmarine, sistership of Bismarck. ... The Baltic Sea is located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. ... East Prussia (German: Ostpreu en; Polish: Prusy Wschodnie; Russian: Восточная Пруссия — Vostochnaya Prussiya) was a province of Kingdom of Prussia, situated on the territory of former Ducal Prussia. ... For alternative meanings of Gdańsk and Danzig, see Gdansk (disambiguation) and Danzig (disambiguation) The title given to this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. ... The Workers and Peasants Red Army (Russian: Рабоче-Крестьянская Красная Армия, Raboche-Krestyanskaya Krasnaya Armiya; RKKA or usually simply the Red Army) were the armed forces first organized by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War in 1918 and that in 1922 became the army of the Soviet Union. ...

In May 1945, the Monte Rosa was captured by advancing British forces at Kiel and taken as a war prize. 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. Kiel ( ) is a city in northern Germany and the capital of the Bundesland Schleswig-Holstein. ... In the United Kingdom, the Department for Transport is the government department responsible for the transport network. ... January 21 is the 21st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1947 calendar). ... Southampton is a city and major port situated on the south coast of England. ... SUEZ (Euronext: SZE, NYSE: SZE) is a leading French-based multinational corporation, with operations primarily in water, electricity and natural gas supply, and waste management. ... Port of Aden (around 1910). ... Map of Colombo with its administrative districts Coordinates: District Colombo Division, Colombo District Mayor Uvaiz Mohammad Imitiyaz (Sri Lanka Freedom Party) Area    - City 37. ... Kure (呉市; -shi) is a city located in Hiroshima, Japan. ... Combatants United Nations: Republic of Korea  Australia  Belgium Canada  Colombia Ethiopia  France Greece  Netherlands  New Zealand  Philippines South Africa  Thailand  Turkey  United Kingdom United States Medical staff:  Denmark  Australia  Italy  Norway  Sweden Communist states: Democratic People’s Republic of Korea People’s Republic of China  Soviet Union Commanders Syngman Rhee...

West Indian immigrants

Main article: British African-Caribbean community

In 1948, the 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. 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 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 [1]. The Leicester Caribbean Carnival The British African-Caribbean (Afro-Caribbean) community are residents of the United Kingdom who are of West Indian background, and whose ancestors were indigenous to Africa. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London (de facto) Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2006 est. ... The Atlantic Ocean is Earths second-largest ocean, covering approximately one_fifth of its surface. ... The City of Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica. ... The British Empire in 1897, marked in pink, the traditional colour for Imperial British dominions on maps. ... A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters to a parliament. ... 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar). ... Calypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music which originated in Trinidad at about the start of the 20th century. ... For the First World War leader, see Horatio Kitchener Lord Kitchener (April 18, 1922 - February 11, 2000) was one of the most internationally famous calypsonians. ... Lord Beginner (born Egbert Moore) was a popular exponent of the Caribbean musical form Calypso, helping to spark a renaissance of the genre in the 1940s and 50s. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ...

The arrivals were temporarily housed in the Clapham South deep shelter in south-west London, less than a mile away from Coldharbour Lane in Brixton. Many only intended to stay for a few years, and although a number returned to rejoin the RAF the majority remained to settle permanently. Clapham South station Clapham South tube station is a station on London Undergrounds Northern Line between Clapham Common and Balham stations and was opened in 1926 as the first station of the Morden extension of the line. ... The London deep-level shelters are eight deep level air-raid shelters that were built under London Underground stations during World War II. Each consists of a pair of parallel tunnels 16 feet 16 inches (5. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Coldharbour Lane is a road in South London that leads from Camberwell to Brixton. ... Brixton is an area of South London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth. ... The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the air force branch of the British Armed Forces. ...

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. For the town of Yokohama in Aomori Prefecture, see Yokohama, Aomori. ... Kure can refer to: Kure, Hiroshima (呉), a city in Hiroshima prefecture, Japan Kure Atoll Kure Beach Kure, Turkey This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate co-operation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress and human rights issues. ... Official name The Duke of Wellingtons Regiment (West Riding) Colonel-in-Chief Brigadier His Grace Arthur Valerian Wellesley KG LVO OBE MC BA DL, 8th Duke of Wellington Colonel-of-the-Regiment Major-General Sir Evelyn John Webb-Carter KCB Nicknames The Dukes, The Havercake Lads, The Pattern, The... The Hook During the 1951-1953 Korean War, elements of the United Nations Forces were engaged in fierce fighting to prevent Chinese forces from gaining ground, prior to a possible cease fire. ... Port Said (postcard around 1915) Port Said (31. ...

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. Soot, also called lampblack, Pigment Black 7, carbon black or black carbon, is a dark powdery deposit of unburned fuel residues, usually composed mainly of amorphous carbon, that accumulates in chimneys, automobile mufflers and other surfaces exposed to smoke—especially from the combustion of carbon-rich organic fuels in the... A typical kitchen funnel. ... An electrically driven pump (electropump) for waterworks near the Hengsteysee, Germany. ... An electrical generator is a device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy, generally using electromagnetic induction. ... Sprinkler A sprinkler is a device used for the distribution of water from plumbing pipes, by spraying it into the air. ... Severn class lifeboat in Poole Harbour, Dorset, England. ... This article is about the capital of Algeria. ... The French Army (French: Armée de Terre) is the land-based component of the French Armed Forces. ...

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. USS Lassen, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet or battle group and defend them against smaller, short-range attackers (originally torpedo boats, later submarines and aircraft). ... HMS Saintes (D84) was a 1942 Battle-class fleet destroyer of the Royal Navy (RN), she and 15 sister ships being ordered under the 1942 defence estimates. ... The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore the Senior Service). ... A mile is a unit of length, usually used to measure distance, in a number of different systems, including Imperial units, United States customary units and Swedish/Norwegian mil. ... March 30 is the 89th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (90th in a leap year). ... Year 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Statistics

• Tonnage: 13,882 gross, 7,788 net, 8,530 deadweight.
• 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.

Tonnage is a measure of the size or cargo capacity of a ship. ... A foot (plural: feet or foot;[1] symbol or abbreviation: ft or, sometimes, ′ – a prime) is a unit of length, in a number of different systems, including English units, Imperial units, and United States customary units. ... The horsepower (hp) is the name of several non-metric units of power. ... A knot is a unit of speed, abbreviated kt or kn. ...

See also

• British African-Caribbean community

The Leicester Caribbean Carnival The British African-Caribbean (Afro-Caribbean) community are residents of the United Kingdom who are of West Indian background, and whose ancestors were indigenous to Africa. ...

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.

A: Sea breeze, B: Land breeze A sea-breeze (or seabreeze) is a wind from the sea that develops over land near coasts. ... The Daily Express is a British newspaper, currently tabloid, and it is owned by Richard Desmond. ... June 20 is the 171st day of the year (172nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 194 days remaining. ... Year 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Kew building. ... British Library Ossulston St entrance, with distinctive red logo. ... The Board of Trade circa 1808. ... The Kew building. ... Old War Office Building, Whitehall, London - the former location of the War Office The War Office was a former department of the British Government, responsible for the administration of the British Army between the 17th century and 1963, when its functions were transferred to the Ministry of Defence. ... The Kew building. ... The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) is the United Kingdom government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom abroad. ... The Kew building. ...

External links

• Oral history of passengers on the Windrush from BBC history
• Empire Windrush from BBC Arts
• Passenger List from the Public Record Office
• Reflections (Film for Windrush Productions, Dir: Pogus Caesar)