Whisky Galore (novel) - Origins of The Story

Origins of The Story

The story was based on a real-life incident that occurred in 1941 on the Hebridean island of Eriskay when the S.S. Politician ran aground. The famous tale of how a group of local Scottish islanders raided a shipwreck for its consignment of whisky has grown into a legend.

Official files released by The National Archives show that it was also carrying a sum of hard cash. In all, there were nearly 290,000 ten-shilling notes, which would be worth the equivalent of several million pounds at today's prices. Not all of this was recovered from the wreck.

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