SS Ormonde or RMS Ormonde was a British ocean liner and later troopship. It was notable as the first post-war migrant ship from the Caribbean to dock at Tilbury Docks on 31 March 1947, over a year before the better known HMTEmpire Windrush.[1] For this journey there were 241 passengers, including 11 stowaways and 6 distressed seamen (sailors without a ship).[1] Poet Hannah Lowe's father, Ralph, was among those on board.[2]
Ormonde had a troubled construction. She was built by John Brown & Company in Clydebank for the Orient Steam Navigation Company as their first ship with a cruiser stern and geared turbines. However, in August 1914 construction was delayed by the outbreak of World War I. In October 1917, she was requisitioned as a troopship, arriving in Sydney in February 1918 to take Australian troops to Egypt. In 1919, she was returned to John Brown & Co to be fitted out as a passenger liner, taking her first passenger voyage to Brisbane on 15 November.[3]
She was damaged in April 1920 in the Suez Canal, having to be repaired in Colombo, Ceylon.[4] In 1922 she was transferred to the Norway route.[3] In April 1923 she was converted to oil and in 1933 she was refitted to single class accommodation, providing a capacity of 770.[4][3]
World War II saw her again requisitioned as a troopship, this time with a capacity of 1,560.[3] She was involved in the evacuation from Norway and from France.[4] Her final return from the Caribbean marked the first substantial landing of Caribbean migrants to the UK.[1] In April 1947, she was released from military service and refitted, only to be chartered by the government again in October 1947 to transport emigrants to Australia (now with a capacity of 1052).[3][4]
Following the Indonesian National Revolution, Ormonde was chartered by the Dutch government to evacuate citizens from Indonesia in March 1950. Then in November she returned as a troopship for New Zealand troops in the Korean War.[3]
Finally, she was scrapped on 5 December 1952 at Troon.[3][4]
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