The ship began to take on water and the crew abandoned the vessel. Islanders from Eriskay launched lifeboats and rescued the crew. The captain and some crew members returned to the ship the next day. They discovered that islanders had been aboard the ship and had removed items from the crew and captain’s cabins. The captain set up a watch to protect the ship. He contacted the ship owners to arrange for a salvage company to assess the damage and try to refloat the ship. The salvage company tried to refloat the ship but it would not move off the rocks. The salvors began removing some of the cargo. It was difficult work because of the tides and stormy weather. Also, the ship’s holds were full of water and oil which had leaked out of the fuel tanks. The salvors continued to work for two weeks but had only limited success. They again tried to move the ship but failed. The salvage company left the wreck site and reported the situation to the owners of the ship.

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The islanders had heard about the cargo that was still aboard the ship. They waited until the salvage company left the scene before they began a ‘salvage operation’ to recover as much of the precious cargo as they could. News of the shipwreck spread quickly and many men and boats arrived to participate in the salvage operation. Alcohol was in very short supply because of wartime rationing. This shipwreck presented the opportunity to get ‘free’ whisky. No islander thought that it was stealing to remove items from the shipwreck. For them the rules of salvage meant that once the cargo was in the sea anyone could recover it. Islanders thought that these rights applied to the ‘Politician’ because she had been abandoned by her crew and the salvage operators had left. Islanders viewed this as an opportunity for legal ‘beachcombing and salvage’. A struggle that lasted for several weeks followed as islanders hurried to save the cargo.

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The local customs officer, Charles McColl, and other tax officers had a different interpretation of the situation. They were determined to collect the export duty taxes for the alcohol. The islanders hid the bottles that were recovered or drank them to keep from paying the tax. The struggle between the islanders and the tax men lasted for several months. Each high tide or storm provided the opportunity to salvage items that were washed out of the shipwreck. When the taxmen were not there and when the weather permitted, islanders worked mostly at night to recover items from the wreck. Some nights there were many men with their boats working at this salvage effort. Some islanders recovered 40 or 50 cases of alcohol at night by hoisting cargo out of the ship’s hold. One man is said to have recovered as many as 1000 cases of whisky, brandy and other spirits. The men became covered with oil as they worked. Many of them wore old dresses from their wives which became soaked with oil as they worked. They discarded the dresses afterwards. (note #1)

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Many of the labels on the bottles had washed off when the cargo was submerged in the ocean. Salvagers could tell the brand of alcohol from the recognizable shape of the bottle or from the seal on the top. Many of the cases were from premium distillers in Scotland and would be easily recognized by the islanders. Most of the recovered alcohol was shared by the islanders or hidden for later consumption. Some of the alcohol was sold but most islanders did not try to profit from their salvage efforts. Instead, a year-long party broke out in the islands as friends and neighbours celebrated the bounty from the sea. Bottles were hidden in barns, in thatched roofs, in gardens and under the crops of oats that the farmers sowed to hide their secret hoard. Tax collectors searched all over the islands to catch the culprits to try and collect the export duty tax for the alcohol. Several islanders were prosecuted, fined and jailed when they were caught with contraband alcohol.

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During the spring and summer of 1941 several additional efforts were made to save the ship or move it to drydock so it could be repaired and refloated. Parts of the upper deck, bridge and cabins were removed by the ship’s owners. The bow and mid-section of the ship were mostly above water which made salvage easier. The alcohol was in the stern of the ship, mainly in cargo hold #5. Later, the efforts to tow the ship to drydock for repairs failed as the ship was too badly damaged to be moved very far. The officials were able to remove some whisky and other goods from the parts of the ship that were above the water. Most of the cargo of whisky was in the stern of the ship and was covered with water and oil making salvage more difficult.

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Government authorities decided that the only way to stop the ‘illegal’ salvage activity was to blow up the wreck since it could not be refloated and saved. On August 12, 1941 they set off the explosion that shattered most of the ship. One islander, Angus John Campbell, commented at the time “Dynamiting whisky. You wouldn’t think there’d be men in the world so crazy as that”. (note #2)

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The explosion destroyed part of the ship and its cargo but left the main part of the hull intact, covered with sand and water. Islanders continued to salvage whisky and other items at night as the tides swept the contents out of the ship’s hull. Today, the wreck of the ‘Politician’ still lies off the coast between Eriskay and South Uist. It is a local attraction for beachcombers and divers. The ‘Politician’ remains a notable story of island resistance to arbitrary government officials.

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In 1988, a new pub opened on Eriskay named ‘Am Politician’ (the Politician) in honour of the shipwreck. Local folk call the pub “The Polly”. It is a good place to meet friends and enjoy good food and drink. Inside the pub, you will find a display which honours the ‘Politician’ by showing relics, photographs and whisky bottles from the wreck. The story of the whisky wreck became the subject of several books including one called ‘Whisky Galore’ by Compton Mackenzie. In 1949 a film with the same name was made and a remake was filmed in 2016.

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One other interesting fact is that in 1987 one bottle of whisky from the wreck was sold at auction for over $16,000. Which is an amazing price for a bottle of whisky that is no longer drinkable. The rarity and history of such a bottle made it a treasured item for whisky collectors.