Today marks the 75th anniversary of the sinking of the SS Politician, which struck rocks off Eriskay and was immortalised in the Ealing comedy film, Whisky Galore.
Bound for Jamaica, the vessel -
Onboard was a mixed cargo of baths, bicycles, linen, shoes and Jamaica banknotes. Also in the holds were boxes of machetes for cutting sugar cane.
But it was the 264,000 bottles of whisky in flooded hold number five which particularly interested the islanders.
People came from Uist and Barra to join the Eriskay folk in liberating the cargo, always trying to evade capture from the customs and police.
Islanders saw nothing wrong with recovering items from the cargo from a ship which could sink to the seabed on the next tide. But the authorities saw things differently and a few men were sent to jail for their activities.
Every night islanders slipped onboard, returning with a haul of whisky. Bottles was hidden around the island, in outhouses and peat bogs. There was so much people often forgot when they had buried their stash.
Outraged at the islanders' liberation of whisky, on which duty remained unpaid, customs officer Charles MacColl searched high and low for the contraband, raiding every croft on the island in his crusade.
Anniversary of Whisky Galore ship
5 February 2016
