True Stories

The True Story of Whisky Galore

The SS.Politician was a cargo ship which left Liverpool on the 3rd February 1941, bound for Kingston in Jamaica and New Orleans. This was a very dangerous time to cross the Atlantic without convoy protection as British Merchant ships were prime targets to the German U - boat ‘wolf packs’, and there were fierce Atlantic winter storms.

On the 5th February, during gale force winds, she ran aground off the Island of Eriskay in the Outer Hebrides and later broke in two near the islet of Calvay. The crew were all OK and managed to get off the ship, where they were looked after by the locals for a few days.

When the locals learned from the crew of the "Polly" what the ship was carrying, a series of illegal but well orchestrated salvage operations took place at night, before the customs and excise officials arrived. The islands supplies of whisky had dried up due to war-time rationing, so the prospect of 28,000 cases of fine Scotch malt going into the sea would have seemed like a terrible waste.

There is some confusion as to what cargo the ship was actually carrying, the Crown remained very tight lipped about the incident and the salvage. The majority of its hold was taken up by the 28,000 cases (264,000 bottles) of Scotch Whisky but there was also a strange assortment of cargo ranging from baths, plumbing fittings, pianos, art silks, motor parts and currency notes. Some sources suggest that these supplies were being sent to the colonies to prepare for the Monarchy, in case there was need of evacuation in the war.

The locals looted the hold of as much whisky as they could carry and made sure it was well hidden from the custom officials. As soon as the weather allowed, Eriskay was besieged with custom officials, insurance agents and legitimate salvage companies. It is reported that the custom officials were not well received and one agent was refused accommodation by most of the townsfolk.

One of the biggest mysteries (and most well kept secret) was that the "Polly" was also carrying 290,000 blue 10 shilling notes to Jamaica. Official files recently released by the public records office show the currency was contained in eight cases and is thought to be worth millions by today’s standards. The Crowns agents who supplied the notes were confident that they would not get into circulation but they started turning up at banks all around the world.

In April 1941 Captain E Lauriston, who was in charge of the operation claimed that the bank notes had turned up in Benbecula, 25 miles north of the wreck. The salvage company stated:

"It is reported that some of the children on the island have been playing with them and the locals, most of whom are known to be incriminated in the looting, are too wily to give anything away."

In a memorandum, the Crown Agents noted:

"The local police service is in no doubt on a very, very small scale but the nature of the place and its surroundings should tend to reduce the chances of serious loss through the notes being presented and paid."

Suspicions only began to rise when an empty cash case was found abandoned in the hold of the ship. By June the bank notes from the SS. Politician were turning up in branches as far away as Liverpool. By mid July, a hundred or so had been tendered in Jamaica and almost two hundred in Britain. By 1958 the Crown Agents reported that 211,267 notes had been recovered by the salvage company and the police and had been destroyed. A further 2,329 had been presented in banks in England, Scotland, Ireland, Switzerland, Malta, Canada, the US and Jamaica. Only 1,509 were thought to have been presented in good faith. That still leaves 76,404 banknotes which have never been accounted for. Like the whisky, their fate remains a mystery.

The wreck of the SS. Politician still lies off the coast of Eriskay, although it is below water line now as the winter gales destroyed the deck and cabins. In 1988 the island got its own ‘legitimate’ pub, named of course ‘Am Politician’. It has pictures, newspaper clippings of the story, the salvage operation (the official one) as well as photographs and diagrams of the ship and its hold. There is a flag from the shipping company and a bottle of whisky from the wreck behind the bar.