Why Compton didn’t predict whisky galore
IT WAS the shipwreck that inspired one of Scotland’s most famous comedy films, Whisky Galore!
In 1941, the SS Politician, carrying 28,000 cases of Scotch, ran aground off Eriskay – and groups of locals gleefully set about helping themselves to thousands of bottles.
But when the vessel foundered, author Compton Mackenzie, it has now been revealed, didn’t think islanders would be able to get their hands on the cargo.
And had he been correct, his famous novel – inspiration for the classic 1949 movie – might never have been written.
A recently unearthed letter shows that Mackenzie believed the SS Politician would not break up after being blown into shallow waters off the Hebridean island – and that its huge cargo of whisky would be kept secure from islanders.
The letter, penned by Mackenzie in 1941, was sent to Avis Gurney, daughter of the Welsh 5th Baron Tredegar.
Writing from his home on the nearby Hebridean island of Barra, he said: ‘There’s a ship ashore at Eriskay with 800 tons of whiskey (sic) on board.
‘If she breaks up this island will be drunk till the next war. But I’m afraid she won’t.’
However, the author’s pessimism proved unfounded after islanders promptly spirited away an estimated 24,000 bottles after the stricken vessel broke in two offshore.
Islanders scrambled to retrieve the whisky and their subsequent scrapes with police and customs officers inspired Mackenzie to pen Whisky Galore!, which was published in 1947.
The tale was immortalised in film after Ealing Studios adapted the novel into a hit comedy starring Basil Radford and Bruce Seton.
When the ship ran aground, the crew were rescued and they told islanders what its cargo was.
As word spread, boats arrived at the wreck from as far away as Lewis to join in the search. In the aftermath, villages and crofts were raided and searched, resulting in several islanders being jailed for theft.
The wreck of the SS Politician, deemed unsalvageable, was subsequently blown up on the order of local customs officer Charles McColl to prevent the locals from helping themselves to any more of its cargo.
Mackenzie’s novel features a ship named the SS Cabinet Minister and the fictional Scottish islands of Great Todday and Little Todday.
Today it is possible to view bottles of ‘Polly’ whisky in Eriskay’s only pub, the Am Politician, while stories persist of bottles turning up hidden in peat bogs or in long forgotten hiding places under floorboards.
The letter, recently catalogued by the Gwent Archives in Wales, was revealed just over a week ahead of the release of a remake of Whisky Galore!, starring Gregor Fisher, James Cosmo, Eddie Izzard and Ellie Kendrick.
Producer Iain Maclean said: ‘I was brought up in the Outer Hebrides and it is the kind of film you watch as a kid – I thought it would be nice to reintroduce the film to a modern audience.
‘Some people say what are we doing “spoiling a classic”, but I don’t think we are. I think we are actually bringing the old one back to life. It portrays Scotland in a nice way and shows the dry Scottish humour.’
Unlike the original, which was filmed on the island of Barra, the remake was shot on location in Portsoy, Aberdeenshire.
The film, which premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival last year, will be released in cinemas on May 5.
‘Drunk until the next war’