The SS Politician
Eriskay, Outer Hebrides
In February 1941 the SS Politician ran aground off Eriskay, carrying about 28,000 cases of whisky. With wartime rationing, the islanders quietly helped themselves to thousands of bottles before customs officers arrived.
Read the full story, see it on the map, get directions and find what else is nearby in the free Hidden Britain Atlas map.
- When
- February 1941
- Where
- 57.1000, -7.2700
- Group
- Shipwrecks
Visiting
The Am Politician pub on Eriskay has some original bottles.

Blood and Gold
Sixteen true stories of mutiny, mercy, treasure and the gallows from the Golden Age of Piracy: Henry Every, Bartholomew “Black Bart” Roberts, Edward England, Howell Davis, Christopher Moody, Anne Bonny, Mary Read, Charles Vane, Benjamin Hornigold, Blackbeard, Stede Bonnet, Israel Hands, Calico Jack, Edward Low, Captain William Kidd and Samuel “Black Sam” Bellamy. Where the record is uncertain, the book says so.
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