SS Politician – Godiva Travellers

About 4 square miles in total, Eriskay is one of the smaller islands of the Outer Hebrides. Though the island has been connected to its larger neighbour South Uist by a causeway since 2001, the island still maintains its independent character. Our second ferry journey on the Calmac Hopscotch 23 route was a short 40 minute ferry voyage from Barra to Eriskay. It was another opportunity to meet and talk with fellow travellers and another opportunity to scan the seas for passing sharks and seals. Travelling on a Hebrides ferry is a real pleasure.

We decided to hire a car for this part of our travels through the Outer Hebrides. We picked up the hire car at the ferry port and arranged to leave it at the ferry port in Berneray a few days later. Our plan on arriving was to set off on a 1.5 mile circular walk which started at the ferry terminal. The walk would have taken us along Prince’s Beach where Bonny Prince Charlie landed in 1745 at the start of his forlorn adventure to regain the British throne for the Stuart family. The walk would have taken us past Eriskay’s remarkable Catholic church, built by local people using local materials towards the end of the 19th century. The church contains remains from both the first world and second world war within its structure. The altar sits on top of a lifeboat from the WW11 aircraft carrier, the HMS Hermes and the bell comes from the German battle cruiser, the Derfflinger which was scuttled in 1918.

Here is a link to further information about the church: St Michael’s Church

The route of our planned walk can be found in Paul and Helen Webster’s book: The Outer Hebrides: 40 Coast and Country Walks

Unfortunately, the weather turned shortly after we disembarked and it began to rain quite heavily. We sadly decided not to venture on our walk and instead headed for the comfort of the modern Politician pub. The pub is named in honour of a ship that was wrecked on local rocks. This shipwreck gave birth to the story for which the island is now most famous The following is a short account of that story.

The SS Politician floundered on rocks in the Sound of Eriskay whilst sailing to America from Liverpool during the wartime Britain of 1941. It was loaded with 264,000 bottles of Scotch whisky. Of course, the good folk of Eriskay were very happy to have crates of their favourite drink wash up on their shores. Unfortunately, the tax man was not so happy so the next few months saw a game of cat and mouse between Government officials and islanders who were intent on protecting their illegal liquid treasure. The 1949 film ‘Whisky Galore!” was based on this incident. However, the filming took place on the nearby island of Barra, not on Eriskay itself. Here is a link to our blog on the island of Barra: Barra-Southern-Gem

Perhaps of equal interest, but less well known, is that the SS Politician was also carrying 290,000 ten-shilling bank notes destined for the banks of Jamaica. These bank notes would be worth several million pounds in today’s valuation. Within a few months of the shipwreck, these notes began appearing in mainland British banks. Evidently, they did not all sink with the ship! The question is: what happened to all those ten-shilling notes?

We may never know: perhaps they should make a film about this too?

In preparation for our trip we thought we should watch the film. If you are in the UK you may still be able to watch the black and white 1949 film Whisky Galore! on BBC iplayer. It made us chuckle and we would recommend you watch it.

There was a remake of the film in 2017 starring Eddie Izzard. We watched this too, but must admit to liking the black and white 1949 version best.

We had lunch in the Politician pub. The barman allowed us to hold some of the artifacts from the grounded ship. The locals had fun with us suggesting we hold the sword and gun to each other’s heads whilst holding the whisky!

We also made a visit to the local cemetery. Like so many Hebridean cemeteries, Eriskay’s cemetery contains the graves of sailors lost at sea during the world wars. Such graves are poignant reminders of how much we owe to the brave people of the past for the freedom we enjoy today. The graves are immaculately kept and such cemeteries are worth visiting for their manicured beauty alone. They also offer moments of tranquil meditation and reflection.

After our short tour of the island, we drove across the causeway to South Uist and the next stage in our journey. You can read about this in our next blog.