BBC World Service

And now witness history

75 years ago hundreds of pioneering migrants travelled from the Caribbean to the UK on board the Empire Windrush

passenger Sam King describes to Alan Johnston the conditions on board and the concerns people had about finding jobs in England

He also tells Alan about what life was like in their adopted country once they arrived

It is 1948 in Jamaica and the island is in bad shape

It's still recovering from a hurricane a few years earlier

And Sam King remembers the economy being in a desperate state

Things again were very bad because the coconuts were destroyed in 1944

It takes five to six years for the coconuts to rebuild

The old structure of farming was undermined

I didn't see any future of course my father was very glad I was there because I'm the eldest son

And like him eventually I would take over the farm to pick the men trying to plant banana and all that

But I had no intention of planting bananas

Back then Sam was just 22 years old but he'd already seen the outside world

He'd volunteered during World War II and served in the Royal Air Force in Britain

With the coming of peace he'd returned to the hills of Eastern Jamaica but he knew he wouldn't stay

And within months he spotted a chance to get away

It wasn't the daily Jamaican newspaper that this troop ship would call to Jamaican about two weeks' time

And the pass it was 28 pounds tensilence, let's get that straight

The average man didn't have 28 pounds tensilence

It was equivalent to about three cows

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