Eriskay and the S.S. Politician

The Outer Hebrides have benefitted in recent years from the connection of several of the islands by causways allowing easy travel between them. It is now possible to visit ten islands from Vatersay in the south to Lewis in the north via two ferries and six causeways. I first visited these wonderful islands five years ago with a group of friends walking the Hebridean Way and fell in love with the islands. https://www.visitouterhebrides.co.uk/hebrideanway/walking#:~:text=Over%20the%20course%20of%20156,includes%20two%20stunning%20ferry%20journeys.

Each island has its own charm. Vatersay and Harris are particular favourites of mine but there are good reasons to fall in love with all of them for different reasons. On our current holiday we are based in North Uist but have easy access to Berneray in the north all the way down to Eriskay in the south. Eriskay, though small – there are about 200 inhabitants currently – has two claims to fame: Bonnie Prince Charlie landed on the beach on the west side of the island in 1745 to begin his campaign to win back the throne of Great Britain and in 1941 a ship carrying, among other things, 240,000 bottles of whisky went aground on the island in a storm on its way from Liverpool to Jamaica and New Orleans. The story became well known internationally through the book by Compton MacKenzie and later a film, both sharing the title Whisky Galore.

The captain of the S.S. Politician, who went by the glorious name of Beaconsfield Worthington, and his crew were rescued safely but so were many of the bottles of whisky in the hold by local people who saw, and took, an oportunity! To the locals it was a case of salvage. What was in the sea was theirs to take. However a particularly zealous local customs officer saw it differently and wished to stop the ‘blatant thieveray’ of whisky on which no duty had been paid. He succeeded in prosecuting several local men and eventually, when all else failed, decided to dynamite the ship to prevent further ‘looting’. A local man is said to have commented on the destruction, “Dynamiting whisky. You wouldn’t think there’d be men in the world so crazy as that!” I can only concur but such are the tactics of a custom’s officer scorned.

It is estimated around 24,000 bottles were liberated from the wreck before the enterprise was finally stopped. Other cargo was officially salvaged and returned to warehouses for safe keeping. In 1988 a new pub was openned on Eriskay taking the name Am Politician in commemoration of the event. Behind the bar are some memorabilia including bottles from the wreck. This week I had the pleasure of not only eating a very fine lunch in the wonderful and dog friendly pub, but also admiring the relics that the staff will happily show any visitor who asks.

Below are a couple of photos of my visit and links to the story of the salvage of the whisky and additional information about the bank notes which were also en route to Jamaica and of which I hadn’t previously been aware.