Polly The True Story Behind Whisky Galore

by Hutchinson, Roger

• ISBN13: 9781840180718
• ISBN10: 1840180714
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-05-01
• Publisher: Mainstream Publishing

Summary

In 1941 an 8,000-ton cargo ship ran aground in the Sound of Eriskay in the Outer Hebrides. In the difficult war years any gift from the sea was welcome, and the SS Politician had among her cargo a quarter of a million bottles of whisky. The events that followed inspired Compton Mackenzie's novelWhisky Galore.Using eyewitness accounts, historical papers, and official documents, this book tells the story of the SS Politician and the circus that surrounded her, from islanders in small skiffs to wartime excise officers and the final solution, to the problem of the vessel affectionately known as the "Polly."

Table of Contents

Foreword	7	(9)
Derek Cooper
Preface	9	(2)
Preface to the 1998 Edition	11	(2)
The Backdrop	13	(1)
Islands at War	14	(21)
Sleek and Handsome Vessels	35	(18)
The King's Ransom	53	(13)
Men at Work	66	(17)
Not Guilty	83	(24)
To the Bottom of the Sea	107	(19)
The Fillums	126	(21)
Postscript	147	(2)
Bibliography	149	(2)
Index	151