#eriskay

Jeremy, Eriskay pony (x)

On the morning of February 5th 1941 the people of the Outer Hebridean island of Eriskay woke up and thought all their Christmases had come at once.

Part two telling the fate of the S S Politiain, which ran aground off Eriskay on this day in 1941.

At 10.30am on 5th February 1941 one of the ship's lifeboats left with 26 men and was washed ashore at the foot of the cliffs of Rudha Dubh, across the Sound on South Uist. Although the boat was smashed to pieces the crew survived without any injuries, but they returned to the 'Politician' by the Eriskay ferryboat later the same day. At 4.45pm the RNLI lifeboat came from Barra to rescue all of the 50 crew and land them on the Island of Barra. Chief Officer RA Swain recalls how the islanders were "very kind, replenished us with hot drinks laced with good rum, and generally made us very comfortable for the night".

The next morning, 6th February, Captain Worthington and his officers returned to the ship to see if there was any hope of re-floating her, but water had flooded the engine room and several of the ships' holds.

On 8th February the Liverpool and Glasgow Salvage Association tender 'SS Ranger' arrived with a party of salvage experts led by Commander Kay and divers, to survey the damage to the ship. The Ranger also supplied power to the winches to help the Captain and crew remove some of the 500 tons of cargo, which as well as the whisky included cars, bicycles, mail and cotton. The severe gales hampered attempts to remove the cargo and inspect the ship for salvage. It was not until 15th February that divers were able to inspect the ship's hull. Captain Kay, in charge of the salvage operation, decided to make no attempt to save the whisky as its hold (number 5) was flooded with water and fuel oil, and he believed it was contaminated. For this reason he didn't place an armed guard on the ship.

On 18th February the coaster 'Corteen' began loading the salvaged cargo, and four days later sailed for Glasgow fully loaded. The salvors had salvaged as much of the cargo as they could without diving and on 24th February the salvage officer, Commander Kay, signalled "Regret... diver's examinations shows salvage of vessel impracticable". The ship was declared a total loss and it was decided to leave the 'Politician' where she was. That same day, 24th February, the crew left the ship for the last time, and Harrisons gave notice of the abandonment of the ship to the insurers. On 12th March the Liverpool and Glasgow Salvage Association abandoned the salvage project.

Free whisky for all!

When the locals learned from the crew what the ship was carrying, a series of illegal salvage operations took place on the night of the stranding before the customs and excise officials arrived. The whisky was especially welcome because the island's had dried up due to war-time rationing. So the islanders helped themselves to some of the 28,000 cases (264,000 bottles) of whisky, or  usquebaugh, as they knew it in their native laguage, Gaelic,  which had been destined for the American market.

No islander regarded it as stealing because the rules of salvage meant that once it was in the sea, it was theirs to rescue. As word of the 'Polly' whisky spread, people came in small boats from islands closest to Barra, Lewis, Mull and the mainland. Rumours spread that the 'Polly' whisky even had magical qualities and didn't cause hangovers!

Unfortunately for the locals the customs officers, surveyor EI Gledhill and fixed officer Charles McColl based in Lochboisdale, didn't share the view that it was okay to salvage the whisky. Charles McColl, a teetotaler, saw it as theft, made worse by the fact that the whisky had never had any duty paid on it. He did not agree with Captain Kay that the whisky was unsalvageable, and that it was safe to leave it on board unguarded.

A second salvage company which later came to break up the ship, emptied hold number 5 and recovered 13,500 cases of whisky. The major part of this was transferred to storage in a customs warehouse on the mainland but some was drunk by the salvers themselves!

McColl began a battle to rally the local police into taking action to recover the stolen whisky. Village homes and crofts were searched and bottles were found hidden away in lofts, hideaways or just drunk to hide the evidence! Even today caches of 'Polly' whisky still come to light when houses are renovated.

Charles McColl and the local police caught many of the locals looting or hiding whisky when they searched households and hiding places on the islands of Benbecula, South Uist and Eriskay, between 15 March and 30 September 1941. They succeeded in recovering a considerable quantity of the goods stolen, including a wide range of whisky. An Inverness-Shire Constabulary report for the 15 March 1941 records that:

"Alexander O'Henley, crofter, Garryamonie, Lochboisdale, Isle of South Uist, and four others acting in concert were found in the sound of Eriskay in the parish of South Uist in the county of Inverness, in possession of the after mentioned goods suspected of having been stolen from the 'SS Politician' then aground on Calvay Island in the Sound of Eriskay:

15 cases of whisky,

3 bundles of cotton print,

13 packets of 10 capstan cigarettes,

2 cycle mudguards,

1 handrail."

On 26th April a group of Barra men stood trial at Lochmaddy Sheriff Court, where they pleaded guilty to theft and were fined between three to five pounds. Charles McColl was unhappy at the leniency of the sentence, and pursued more men, 19 of whom received harsher sentences of between 20 days and 2 months imprisonment at Inverness and Peterhead. This created resentment amongst the locals which lingers to this day. McColl estimated that the islanders had salvaged 24, 000 bottles of whisky and wanted to make sure they could rescue no more so he obtained official permission in October 1941 to blow up the 'Politician'

In April 1941 the Salvage Association of London came to an arrangement with the British Iron and Steel Corporation (Salvage) Ltd of Glasgow to carry out a second salvage operation prior to the towing of the vessel to the ship breakers. They arrived to find the 'Polly' in a sorry state, everything movable had been looted. Examination by divers showed there was great rock under her engine room, and number 5 hold, the engine room and stoke hole were completely flooded with the water level rising and falling with the tide.

Their first job was to lighten the ship so divers salvaged the bales of cotton and cases of whisky. The strongroom believed to be holding the banknotes was also hidden between decks in the number 5 hold but when it was opened the money wasn't there. Boxes containing £360,000 in banknotes were later found hidden amongst the whisky cases. Why it was hidden there and not in the safe is not known.

In May the salvage vessel 'Assistance' lifted and forwarded more cargo to Glasgow. An attempt was made to re-float the 'Politician' on 20th September 1941, to tow her to Lochboisdale. The attempt failed and she came to rest on another rocky outcrop concealed in a sand bank and broke her back. Customs officers Gledhill and McColl estimated there was still 1,000 cases of whisky in hold number 5 so they obtained permission to dynamite the hold. This was carried out in October 1941, much to the dismay of the islanders, their emotions summed up by Angus John Campbell, who commented;

"Dynamiting whisky! You wouldn't think there'd be men in the world so crazy as that!"

Salvage attempts continued on and off until July 1944. The ship was broken into two halves, with the forward section towed to Glasgow for breaking up and the sunken after section left where she lay. Today the wreck of the 'SS Politician' still lies off the coast of Eriskay, hidden below the waterline now, her deck and cabins long since destroyed by the wild sea.

The stranding of the 'Politician' would have been forgotten as just a minor incident amongst many occurring to the Harrison Line fleet of ships during the Second World War, when they lost 30 of their 46 ships.

During the war the incident was not reported to the public, but the rumours in the highlands and islands of the West of Scotland would have been heard by the author Compton Mackenzie on the neighbouring island of Barra. The story of the 'Politician' became immortalised in his 1947 novel, 'Whiskey Galore', renamed the 'S Cabinet Minister'. When this was made into the Ealing comedy film in 1949, her story became the stuff of national legend, a remake was released in 2016.

The 'Politican' continues to rouse interest with stories of whisky still being discovered on the Islands. In 1987 eight bottles found by Donald MacPhee from South Uist sold at Christies for £4,000, and in 2003 Bonhams sold a single lid from a Ballantine's whisky crate for £1,500. As recently as August 2010 one single Ballantine's bottle of whisky sold for £4,200!

In 1988 the island of Eriskay got its first 'legitimate' pub, named Am Politician, 'The Politician' in Gaelic.

In 1989 a salvage company, SS Politician plc, was founded to salvage whisky and other cargo. After moving hundreds of tons of sand they only recovered 24 more bottles.

As I touched upon earlier the Polly was carrying another valable cargo, Bank Notes! 

Conspiracy theories prevail, mostly surrounding the reason she was carrying almost 290,000 ten shilling notes (£145,000), the equivalent of several million pounds today. Why was this amount of money being sent to Jamaica? Was it in case the government and royal family were preparing to evacuate the UK?

The Crown Agents for Overseas Governments report from 1973 describes how the government hoped that they would not get into circulation but they started turning up on the shore. Local children were seen playing with them on the beach at Benbecula but;

"the locals, most of whom are known to be incriminated in the looting, are too wily to give anything away"

An empty cash case was also found abandoned in the hold of the ship. By June the bank notes from the 'SS Politician' were turning up in bank branches in Liverpool and as far away as Jamaica, Switzerland and the USA. By 1958 the Crown Agents reported that 211,267 (£360,000) of the 290,000 notes had been recovered by the salvage company and a further 2,329 had been presented in banks in England and all over the world. There are still about 75,000 banknotes which have never been accounted for, their whereabouts remain a mystery.

The mystery is fuelled by the fact that government papers concerning the 'Politician' are still the subject of a 75 year old closure rule, which means we may not know the answer until 2016.

Mrs Janet MacIntyre proudly holds a sheaf of oats bound with a straw band on Eriskay in 1934. She wears a blouse and skirt and headscarf. She is looking down and her face has laughter lines and an expression of deep happiness which seems to epitomise the joy of harvest. Sometimes we just need to be joyful with our oats.

“Ya can play football anywhere, but if ya can’t play football on a wee bumpy pitch, ya shouldnae be playin”

My second @yurionicebigbang project.

I collaborated with @eriskay and though it wasn’t originally my idea, I loved doing it the same!

Author:  Eriskay

Rating: T

Status: Completed in April 2017

Word Count: 46,654

Summary: At 21 years old, Kurt is starting his junior year in college with higher ambitions than is probably entirely advisable. Also, he just happens to be the heir to a throne, but more on that later. Meanwhile, Blaine has found himself accidentally following Kurt everywhere he goes. For six years. Let’s just say they have a lot to talk about, once they finally introduce themselves.AKA, the Kurt-is-a-prince-college-AU that kicks off with no less than four different meet-cutes, because why in the world not?

Tropes/Genre: Prince!Kurt, romance, fluff, college!Klaine, AU

Lynne’s review: This is so absolutely adorable and sweet and lovely I just loved it so much!

We arrived late evening after ferry crossings from Oban - Barra - Eriskay.

Day1: A short-eared owl was hunting alongside the main road as we made a trip to the supermarket. We lunched at the Am Politician pub, then walked along the lane that runs across the north side of Eriskay, through Haunn and Bun-A-Mnullin.

Lots of yellow flag irises, cuckoo flowers and northern marsh orchids with orange tip, small heath and small tortoiseshell butterflies along the track. Two common sandpipers calling on the shore rocks and many noisy starlings.

Day2: Cladh Hallan beach, South Uist

The machair behind the dunes is covered in buttercups, potentilla and hundreds of magenta northern marsh orchids and alive with nesting oystercatchers, meadow pipits, lapwings & arctic terns.  A female hen harrier quartered the machair and was mobbed by crows (possibly ravens) and the oystercatchers; a buzzard circled in the distant upland.

Day3: Loch Druidibeag walk, South Uist

A pair of buzzards circled above us calling each other. We disturbed a well-camouflaged golden plover (birdlog #125) which called continually to distract us from its nest.

There were four-spot chaser dragonflies

and large red, common blue and blue-tail damselflies in the heather and bog pools.

Many of the lochans are filled with waterlilies.

A picnic lunch with a view across the loch...

...and towards Hecla.

On the walk back to the car a pair of hen harriers danced in the distance, the female landed somewhere in the heather, then the male set off to quarter the moorland below Hecla.

Later, as we approached the causeway heading to South Uist for evening meal, a large dog otter crossed in front of us!