Summer ends next week, and Halloween will follow, and the next day begins the holiday season. We all know it will pass quickly, as it does each year, and soon we will complain of ice and frigid temps. In any event, most of us will be itching to disembark the burning ship of 2020, whether or not we have life vests like the fellow above.
This particular image was taken from a lifeboat by one of the 1500 passengers aboard the British troopship Empire Windrush. On the last leg of her voyage from Japan, steaming past Algiers, an engine room explosion sent flames and smoke throughout the ship. Lifeboats carried away all women and children, and 750 men were left to crawl down (or in some cases, jump) into the water. Rescue ships soon arrived and picked up every single crew man, save the four who were killed by the actual explosion. No other lives were lost, and it became one of the most successful sea rescues of all time.
The ship did sink after all, but here we see her in better days, in June of 1948, arriving at Tilbury Docks from Jamaica, with 482 Jamaicans on board, emigrating to Britain.
I Don't Get It 
Wow this year is going fast. I for one will not miss 2020.
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As a British person, I know all about the Empire Windrush in terms of its importance to the history of immigration. I had no idea, however, that it sunk or was one of the most successful sea rescues in history. Thank you for adding to my education.
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Neat that you already knew of it! I doubt anyone I know has heard of it, but I did find it so interesting!
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It’s an important moment in British history. Britain has always been shaped by waves of immigrants and the push and pull of those changing demographics. Kids are taught about the Empire Windrush in school now.
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This was completely new to me. Thanks for the education. I doubt future time travelers will put 2020 on their must do list.
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Maybe vintners won’t even keep that vintage.
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My dear wife Karen and I have almost certainly already decided that cruise ships are a thing of our past,
Kerbey.
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Good idea.
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