Shipwreck hunter on New Year's Honours list plans to recover Windrush anchor
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A shipwreck hunter who plans to recover the anchor of the HMT Windrush at “the bottom of the Mediterranean sea” has been appointed an Officer of the British Empire (OBE) in the New Year Honours list. David Mearns, a marine scientist in West Sussex, has been honoured for his services to locating and retrieving historic shipwrecks.
The 66-year-old who has recovered 29 wreckages including the plane that disappeared over the English Channel carrying footballer Emiliano Sala in 2019, said he plans to find the HMT Windrush’s 1.5-tonne anchor after it sank off the coast of Algeria in 1954.
The HMT Windrush brought the first Windrush generation to the UK to help rebuild the country as it faced labour shortages following World War Two. As part of the Windrush Anchor Foundation, David told PA he aims to use the anchor as a memorial to celebrate the contributions of the Windrush generation and their descendants who were a “positive force for multicultural Britain" adding that he hopes that his OBE and the recognition would uplift the mission.
Speaking to the Mirror, Windrush campaigner Patrick Vernon who is part of the project said: “That was the ship that the passengers [arrived in]. "The anchor is from the ship itself. This is not an artist impression of it, or a sculpture and I think that would resonate not just with the Windrush community but the whole population of Britain.”.
