It’s Windrush Day today, and to make the milestone a new £2 million appeal has been launched to raise the sunken ships’s anchor off the seabed.
When the HMT Empire Windrush sailed into Tilbury Docks on 22 June 1948 it was the proudest voyage of the ship’s checkered life. The majestic vessel was carrying more than 1,000 passengers from Jamaica to the Essex port – on a mission to help rebuild Britain after the horrors of World War Two.
Dubbed the Windrush Generation, their legacy will be celebrated today on Windrush Day – an annual commemoration of the contribution they and their descendants have made to the UK.
Now a £2 million appeal has been launched by The Windrush Anchor Memorial Foundation, in a campaign to recover the ship’s anchor from the Mediterranean seabed, after the ship sank off the coast of Algeria in 1954, following an engine explosion that killed four members of the crew.
Then a troop carrier, it had been returning servicemen from the Far East after the Korean war. Thankfully, all 1,494 passengers were saved in one of the greatest rescues in maritime history. But Royal Navy attempts to tow the ship back to Gibraltar failed and it remains in a watery grave.
Built as the Monte Rosa in Germany in 1930, the ship was requisitioned by the German Navy at the outbreak of the war and, in November 1942, was used by the Nazis to transport 46 Norwegian Jews from Oslo to Denmark, from where they were sent to their deaths in Auschwitz.
Among the spoils of war seized by the British, the ship was renamed HMT Empire Windrush and given a far more honourable role – until its catastrophic end. Now campaigners are fighting to give its anchor a fitting final chapter.
Marie van der Zyl OBE, vice chair of the Windrush Memorial Anchor Foundation and former president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, says: “The story of Windrush is a remarkable one to understand the cultural make-up of the UK, and we also need to understand the story of the ship pre-Windrush. This campaign aims to remember everyone involved in the ship’s history.”
The Foundation aims to raise approximately £2 million to support the anchor recovery operation, conservation work, installation of the memorial, and delivery of educational and community programmes, centred around the story and significance of the ship, with donations welcomed via the campaign’s GoFundMe page.
Shoppers can purchase The Windrush Board Game too, which has been designed to educate people of all ages about the history, experiences and contributions of the Windrush Generation, and is being relaunched for Windrush Day.
A replica anchor is also planned to use for outreach events, exhibitions and schools engagement activities across the UK. Sir Patrick Vernon, Chair of the Windrush Anchor Memorial Foundation, says: “The anchor represents far more than a maritime artefact — it symbolises courage, hope, resilience and the contribution of the Windrush Generation to modern Britain.
“Through this memorial and education programme, we want future generations to better understand the legacy of Windrush and the communities that helped shape contemporary British society.”
*Donate to the campaign at gofundme.com/f/monument-for-the-windrushgeneration . The Windrush Board Game costs £23.37 and is available at www.windrushgame.co.uk – with 22% of all proceeds after Windrush Day 22 June donated to the Windrush Anchor Project.
