The story of Whisky Galore

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. This summer a hollywood film company starts to shoot the remake of the classic comedy - Whisky Galore.

A II. vilaghaboruban a Skocia nyugati partjainal teljes whisky rakomanyaval elsullyedt SS Politician teherhajo kifosztasa, amely ihlette az 1949-ben bemutatott Whisky Galore cimu filmet , egy meseszeru tortenet arrol, hogyan packaztak a szerencses szigetlakok az adohatosag embereivel. Compton MacKenzie regenye es a kesobbi film azt mutatja be hogyan csillapithattak a kornyekbeliek whisky-szomjukat a szukos haborus korulmenyek kozott. Valojaban azonban a mohosag uralkodott el rajtuk es keszek voltak eroszakra is, hogy megvedjek 24,000 palackos hadizsakmanyukat. A korabeli adatok szerint a whisky "kimenekitese" mellett elraboltak a hajoroncs 10,000 fontot ero teljes berendezeset, lampakat, iroasztalokat, meg a hajo iranytujet is. A Jamaicanak szant 3 millio font egy reszenek is nyoma veszett. A helyi vamtisztek elso rajtautesekor elcsipett 3 hajo egyikeben a 42 karton whisky mellett egy 84 eves bacsika ucsorgott. Az egyik akkoriban letartoztatott es megbirsagolt helybeli unokaja szerint a kuzdelem azert valt oly hevesse, mert a helybeliek nem tudtak elviselni, hogy a hajo ertekes rakomanya karba vesz. Szerinte "ez a pazarlas kulonosen felhaborito lehetett azoknak a rendkivul takarekos embereknek". Mindez azert erdekes, mert hollywood iden nyaron nekiall ujraforgatni az eredeti Whisky Galore filmet.
(The Times)