In February 1941, a British cargo ship known as SS Politician was grounded and wrecked on a submerged sandbar off the coast of Eriskay, one of the islands in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides. On board were trade goods ranging from cotton to biscuits, en route to would-be customers in Jamaica and New Orleans. If, however, there was a marquee item among the ship’s inventory, it was surely the whisky—264,000 bottles of it. There was so much whisky on board that—following an initial rush among locals to rescue what they could from…
