MV Empire Windrush

The Empire Windrush arrived at Tilbury on 22 June 1948, carrying 493 passengers from Jamaica wishing to start a new life in the United Kingdom. The passengers (including one stowaway) were the first large group of West Indian immigrants to the UK after the Second World War.

Before 1948, the ship, under the name of Monte Rosa, had been used for cruises in pre-war Germany, and then as a German troopship and prisoner transport ship, 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, just off the coast of Algeria.