As we approach Windrush Day on the 22nd of June please sign and share this petition regarding HMT Empire Windrush.

The MV Monte Rosa ship was built in the 1930s and was a prized possession of the Third Reich. Originally used as a German cruise ship it was commandeered during the Second World War to transport German troops. During the Holocaust era it shipped hundreds of Jewish people from Norway and Demark to concentration camps in Auschwitz.

In May 1945, the Monte Rosa was captured by British forces and as Crown property became a passenger ship under the Ministry of Transport when the war ended. In 1947, it was renamed HMT Empire Windrush.

In June 1948, the ship made the historical journey from the Caribbean with hundreds of passengers on board including Polish and Maltese migrants and refugees. It anchored at Tilbury Docks marking the beginning of a new era of British history. On the 30th of March 1954 HMT Empire Windrush made its last voyage on route to Gibraltar where it had engine failure and sank in international waters. It lies just 3000 metres below sea level in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Algeria. The ship’s anchors are of great significance to the history of Britain. They symbolise migration, racial equality and shared history of belonging and citizenship.

We demand that the British government use its resources including the Royal Navy and other government departments to recover, reclaim and bring back home the ship’s anchors. We demand it work in partnership with heritage and community organisations over the next five years to establish the anchors as a permanent national monument along with education/outreach programmes to celebrate and commemorate the Windrush Generation and migration to Britain. In doing so, it will reassert the importance a multicultural and secular Britain for future generations.  Let this be the legacy of the 5th national Windrush Day on the 22nd June 2023.