Six rare bottles of Scotch salvaged from 1941 shipwreck which inspired the film Whisky Galore! go up for auction (and an expert says they are still good to drink)
- SS Politician ran aground in the Outer Hebrides during a storm in February 1941
- The ship had 264,000 bottles of whisky in Hold Number Five
- Eriskay islanders conducted an unofficial ‘salvage’ mission, six are now for sale
- They are Ballantine’s, a VAT 69, and four bottles of Gilbey’s expected to fetch £6,000 to £8,000 each
Six rare bottles of Scotch salvaged from the shipwreck that inspired Whisky Galore! are to be sold at auction.
The SS Politician ran aground off Eriskay in the Outer Hebrides during bad weather in February 1941 – with 264,000 bottles in Hold Number Five.
Some islanders conducted an unofficial ‘salvage’ mission – and even donned their wives’ dresses so that engine oil leaking on to their clothes would not give them away afterwards.
The six bottles of Scotch salvaged from the shipwreck of the SS Politician, which ran aground off the shores of Eriskay in the Outer Hebrides in 1941 ,each expected to fetch between £6,000-8,000 at auction
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The wreck was immortalised by Compton Mackenzie in his 1947 novel Whisky Galore! and the Ealing comedy which followed two years later.
The six bottles will be auctioned at Bonhams in Edinburgh on June 5. They are a Ballantine’s, a VAT 69, and four bottles of Gilbey’s. Each one is expected to fetch £6,000 to £8,000.
Unlike much of the contents of Hold Five, they were salvaged legally in 1990 and are accompanied by official documentation from HM Customs.
Film: Whisky Galore - Gordon Jackson, Bruce Seton, inspired by Compton Mackenzie's 1947 novel Whisky Galore!
Despite spending nearly half a century in the Sound of Eriskay, authentication tests showed it had not been diluted.
Irvine Butterfield, a customs official in Perth, wrote: ‘Given its lengthy sojourn beneath the waters of the Outer Hebrides the whisky has stood up remarkably well and, I would venture to suggest, will be quite potable.
‘Though Scotch whisky does not age in [the] bottle, it bears its age with dignity as befits an excellent beverage.’
A total of 28,000 cases of malt whisky were on board atthe time when the ship, sailing from Liverpool to the Jamaican capital ofKingston and New Orleans in the US, crashed. Pictured: Another two bottles of whisky bought in auction for £12,050
