On the last voyage of the Empire Windrush

sir – The Empire Windrush was originally a German passenger liner, the MV Monte Rosa, which served as a German troopship in the Second World War. In 1945 she was taken as a war prize and became a troopship under the UK Ministry of Transport.

In 1948 she travelled for the first time to Jamaica to repatriate West Indian servicemen. On the return journey she brought the first 500 Jamaicans to come to Britain under the government’s post-war sponsorship schemes.

The ship’s last journey was a return from Korea, carrying troops and their families. Our family boarded in Hong Kong. In the early morning of March 28 1954, 30 miles off Algiers, an explosion in the engine room caused a fire that quickly swept through the ship.

Within the hour the ship was abandoned; women and children took to lifeboats and most of the men, including my father, had to take their chances in the sea.

Four of the 222 crew died but all 1,276 passengers were saved. It was considered a miracle that there were not more deaths and injuries. The ship sank the next day. James Weymouth Stansbatch, Herefordshire