Whisky Galore!

The SS Politician, an 8,000 ton ship bound for New Orleans and carrying 28,000 cases of malt whisky, ran aground on a sandbank in dense fog at Rosinish Point on the Hebridean island of Eriskay.

The islanders acted swiftly to rescue the crew as the ship threatened to sink, returning just as swiftly to rescue the cargo once they realised what it was and on hearing from the customs officers that the ship’s owners were sending a salvage team.

Most islanders believed that they had the right to benefit from the unexpected windfall, especially at a time of rationing and shortages. No-one considered it theft or looting as once the cargo was in the water it was a bounty available to all.

The result was a near-farcical episode of hide and seek with rescued bottles concealed in all sorts of ingenious places as the islanders and government agents tried to get the better of each other in a battle of wits that has passed into local legend.

There were consequences for those caught red-handed were convicted and fined at Lochmaddy Sheriff Court. Meanwhile, with thousands of bottles still on board the SS Politician, she was blown apart to prevent any further ‘salvage’ attempts.

"Dynamiting whisky. You wouldn’t think there’d be men in the world so crazy as that," said one islander at the time.

A few years later Compton MacKenzie wrote the book that captured the spirit of the confrontation and it was translated into a 1949 film Whisky Galore! that, to this day, is a permanent feature in any list of top 10 Scottish films. In America is was released as Tight Little Island. In France it was Whisky a GoGo.

The SS Politician became the SS Cabinet Minister, and Eriskay became Todday for the fictional version of events which loosely follows what actually happened on February 5, 1941, portraying the islanders as heroes and customs officers as villains.

In 1987, eight newly recovered bottles of whisky were sold at auction for £4,000. In 1989 a salvage company raised the finance to dive on the wreck of the SS Politician but only succeeded in finding a further 24 bottles.

Whisky facts

• The world’s most popular spirit, Scotch whisky, is sold in over 200 markets worldwide.
  
• Scotch Whisky is one of the UK’s top 5 exports, with 36 bottles exported every second.
  
• Scotch whisky delivers £109 per second to UK exports
  
• More Scotch whisky is sold in one month in France than Cognac in a year.
  
• Scotland’s International Centre for Brewing and Distilling is the only organisation in the UK to offer both Honours and Masters degrees in Brewing and Distilling.