On this day in 1941 the salvage crews that had been working on the wreck of the SS Politician, which had run aground of the Isle of Eriskay, left the ship and the locals moved in.
The SS Politician had a cargo including included 22,000 cases of malt whisky and £3 million worth of Jamaican banknotes. It became the inspiration for the 1949 Ealing comedy Film Whisky Galore after
much of the whisky was recovered by islanders from across the Hebrides, contrary to marine salvage laws. Because no duty had been paid on the whisky, members of HM Customs and Excise pursued and prosecuted those who had removed the cargo.
The goverment Considered taking goods from a wreck as theft but the islanders took a different view of salvage and considered that they did not "steal" any cargo from local wrecks, but instead talked of "saving" or "rescuing" it from the sea.They knew Politician had been abandoned by the owners and the salvage crews; one islander later told Swinson "when the salvors quit a ship—she's ours".
The SS Politician had a cargo including included 22,000 cases of malt whisky and £3 million worth of Jamaican banknotes. It became the inspiration for the 1949 Ealing comedy Film Whisky Galore after
much of the whisky was recovered by islanders from across the Hebrides, contrary to marine salvage laws. Because no duty had been paid on the whisky, members of HM Customs and Excise pursued and prosecuted those who had removed the cargo.
The goverment Considered taking goods from a wreck as theft but the islanders took a different view of salvage and considered that they did not "steal" any cargo from local wrecks, but instead talked of "saving" or "rescuing" it from the sea.They knew Politician had been abandoned by the owners and the salvage crews; one islander later told Swinson "when the salvors quit a ship—she's ours".