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All Together NOW!
APRIL/MAY 2022
KEN PYE is managing director of Discover Liverpool. His latest book, Liverpool Murders and Misdemeanours, features some of the city’s grimmest and
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most unusual crimes and their perpetrators. It is available in all good bookshops or from Ken directly – as are all of his books, DVDs, and audio CDs.
Tel. 0151 427 2717 email – ken@discoverliverpool.com www.discover-liverpool.com
ON THE ROCKS: SS Politician
REMEMBER the classic Ealing comedy Whisky Galore!, the true tale of Scottish islanders relieving a wrecked ship of its alcoholic cargo? Well, did you also know that the story really began in Liverpool?
Wartime spirit of the dram busters RENOWNED: Writer Sir Compton Mackenzie
O
VERLOOKING the churchyard of Our Lady and St Nicholas Church in Liverpool city centre, stands the grand office building named Mersey Chambers.
This is renowned for the white Liver Bird that stands on its pediment, and for once being the headquarters of the Harrison Shipping Line. Perhaps the most famous vessel in the company’s fleet was SS Politician. This was an 8,000-ton cargo ship, which sailed from Liverpool on February 3, 1941, at the height of the Second World War. She was bound for Kingston, Jamaica, and New Orleans, and was carrying a cargo that included 28,000 cases of malt whisky. However, two days later, the large cargo vessel encountered gale force winds off the coast of the Outer Hebrides in Scotland. Unable to maintain control, the ship was driven on to the rocks and shoals of the Island of Eriskay, where she ran aground. The Politician was at risk of sinking and so her crew abandoned her, but they all managed to make it safely to the island unharmed, where they were looked after by the local community. Despite the storm, which soon abated,
SCOTCHED: Boozy shipment dispatched from Liverpool’s Harrison Line HQ the Politician did not sink and, when the locals discovered what was on board, they hatched a plan. Their own supplies of whisky had all been used up due to wartime rationing, so they were determined to recover as many cases of spirits as they could, before these were swallowed up by the waves rather than by them. It was obvious to the islanders that Customs and Excise officials would soon arrive to
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attempt to remove the ship’s valuable and tempting cargo, so the men organised a series of rapid, completely illegal, night-time raids on the stranded vessel. Word of the alcoholic treasure trove had spread very quickly by this time, to the other Hebridean islands, and soon boats were coming from as far away as Lewis to join in the unofficial salvage operation. The highly-motivated Scotsmen executed their mission with superb organisation and
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stealthy efficiency. In all, they relieved the Politician of something like 24,000 bottles of whisky before the Customs Officers eventually arrived. Nevertheless, the resident customs officer on Eriskay, Charles McColl, was enraged by what the local people had done and he pressured somewhat reluctant island police officers into searching for the stolen whisky. Communities were raided and cottages and crofts ransacked in the searches, but almost none of the bottles were found. The ingenuity of the islanders meant that the whisky had been skilfully hidden or disguised, or simply quickly drunk rather than lose it to the authorities. Soon, official attempts were indeed carried out to salvage the Politician’s cargo, but these were not at all successful. Before long, permission was given for the ship, and its remaining contents, to be blown up. To the great dismay of the islanders, what they regarded as a wanton act of criminal insanity was carried out by the Royal Navy, and the Hebridean people grieved long and bitterly over the waste of such a vast quantity of “liquid gold”. In 1947, the renowned author, Sir Compton MacKenzie, published an entertaining novel based on this incident, entitled Whisky Galore!, followed in 1949 by the film. A remake, starring Eddie Izzard, came out in 2016.
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