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 novel Whisky 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.