A BOTTLE OF EXPORT WHISKY RECOVERED FROM THE S.S. POLITICIAN, WRECKED ISLE OF BARRA 1940, RECOVERED 1966

the clear glass bottle marked for James Martin & Co., Leith, Scotland, now approximately half full complete with embossed foil cap over cork, the bottle inscribed FEDERAL LAW FORBIDS SALE OR RE-USE OF THIS BOTTLE -- 10½in. (27cm.) high; together with Vallintine, R.: Deep in the Blue - A Life of Diving, Achillies Press, 2007 where the Politician dive is described p.83-90

(2)

Provenance: Recovered Reg Vallintine, 1966

Popularly known as the Polly, in February 1941 the S.S. Politician (Capt. Beaconsfield Worthington) departed Liverpool to assemble in a convoy north of Scotland. She was carrying a mixed cargo of export goods to the U.S. to raise much-needed cash to fund the war effort. Included within her hold were 22,000 cases (264,000 bottles) of assorted Scotch whiskies and eight cases of Jamaican banknotes to the value of £3m. Two days out she ran around in thick fog off the Isle of Eriskay in the Outer Hebrides. Salvage efforts recovered 13,092 cases of whisky, another 2,000 were 'saved' by islanders who hid them in crofts and houses across the island. Several islanders were later prosecuted for theft by the tax authorities, but after the war their story was recounted in Whisky Galore, a novel by Scottish author Compton Mackenzie, later made into a film of the same name but released as Whisky à Gogo in France and because American censors would not allow "whisky" in the title, as Tight Little Island in the U.S. Approximately 5,000 cases went down with the ship and whilst some may remain, bottles from the wreck have been raised by recreational divers for many years.