🧵The British government is talking of using disused ferries to hold asylum seekers.
But this was already tried by the UK once before – a cruel experiment that failed spectacularly.
This is the story of the Earl William, hunger striking Tamils and the great storm of 1987.⬇️
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In January 1987, then Home Secretary Douglas Hurd approved the use of a former car ferry to detain asylum seekers.
The Earl William was chosen as it was “unlikely to appear too luxurious or too Spartan” he claimed.
It was moored at Harwich in Essex.
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By May 1987, asylum seekers from Ethiopia, Iraq, Iran, Somalia, Afghanistan, Uganda and Nigeria, were detained on board.
The largest group, however, were 60 Eelam Tamils from Sri Lanka.
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It was the first– and so far, only – time that the UK had ever used a ship as a migrant detention centre.
With everyone on board, it became the largest detention centre in the country.
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Conditions were horrific.
“The cabin was claustrophobic and tiny,” said one Tamil.
“It was like a tight little tin with no windows.
"We felt seasick all the time. We never knew whose turn it was to return to certain torture and maybe even death.”
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There were eight women on board, including a 15-year-old girl.
No sanitary towels were provided for the first two months.
Detainees were barred from the deck because of the suicide risk.
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See more from Felix Bazalgette on the conditions at the time:
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Many of the Tamils fled the Black July pogrom in Sri Lanka.
But even in the UK, they were victims of racism. In Nov 1986, a firebomb was sent through a letterbox in East Ham, killing three Tamils.
“Flames haunted the Tamil people wherever they went”, wrote @pmillerinfo.
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On board, a protest soon began.
The Eelam Tamils began a hunger strike, demonstrating against the conditions in which they were being detained.
A banner over the side of the ship read “British people! Don’t let us die!”
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Labour MP @HackneyAbbott visited the ferry on August 6 with fellow MPs @jeremycorbyn and Harry Cohen.
“The young Tamils were completely desperate," she said.
"It seemed a barbaric situation and I felt very sad for them. Conditions were poor and overcrowded.”
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In Oct 1987, as the ship’s guards slept at night, Siva and another detained jumped off the vessel and into the freezing sea.
They swam ashore, trudged through the marshes and fled to a local church.
Siva surrendered to authorities in 1990 & later won settled status.
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Just 10 days later the UK, France, and the Channel Islands were hit by the Great Storm of 1987.
It was dubbed the biggest storm for 500 years, with headlines claiming it had caused the “worst devastation since the war”.
The Earl William was battered.
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On Oct 16, the Earl William was no longer docked at Harwich. The storm had ripped it from its moorings and thrown it into the tides.
The hull was pierced with several gashes, flooding the lower levels
All those onboard were found sheltering in the officers’ mess.
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The UK government was forced to release all those on board and grant temporary admission on 'compassionate grounds'.
‘For months we have been campaigning for their release,’ said an activist. ‘Now the furious hand of nature has replied.
The 6-month experiment had failed.
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It wasn't smooth sailing for the refugees however.
The Home Office deported many, including at least 5 Tamils to Sri Lanka. One 18-year-old was imprisoned and beaten on his return.
To this day, Tamil refugees are being detained and sent to Rwanda.
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And what happened to the Earl William?
It spent years circling through different owners and purposes – before becoming a floating hotel in Trinidad & Tobago.
In 2011, it hit an oil-drilling vessel off the Venezuela coast.
It sank to the bottom of the sea without a trace.
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So there you have it.
Appalling conditions, on board protests, and the furious hand of nature – all ensuring a swift end to a terrible policy.
That was more than 35 years ago.
Have any lessons been learnt?
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For more please do read this fantastic piece by Felix Bazalgette foir @newint and this revisiting of events from the @tamilguardian.
newint.org/immersive/2018…
tamilguardian.com/content/great-…
Read interviews with some of the Tamils who were on board below.
morningstaronline.co.uk/article/learn-…
mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/m…
Please do excuse any typos. Written in a rush whilst waiting for my first patient to arrive this morning.
A busy day of patients, document reviews and prescription requests ahead...
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