The wartime looting of the ship SS Politician, which sank off the Outer Hebrides with a cargo of whisky and inspired the 1949 comedy classic Whisky Galore, is a tale of happy-go-lucky islanders outwitting killjoy tax inspectors. The novel of Compton MacKenzie, and later the film, was supposedly inspired by the story of quenching a thirst for whisky born in wartime rationing. In reality the Hebridians were overcome by greed and ready to use violence to protect their booty, 24,000 bottles of whisky. The records show that beside “liberating” the whisky, the islanders stripped the vessel of about 10,000 GBP worth of furnishing, lamps, writing desks and even the ship’s compass. Some of the 3 million GBP cargo of banknotes bound for Jamaica also went missing. On the first interception by local Custom officials, the crew of three boats carrying 42 cases of whisky included an 84 year old man. The grandson of one of the islanders who was arrested and fines, said that the battle became heated because islanders could not bear to see the cargo go to waste. “That must have been extremly frustrating for people who didn’t like to see waste” he said.