Politician
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London
Merchant was a steamer laid down at Furness Shipbuilding
Company Ltd in September 1920, and she was launched in
November 1921. She was delivered to the company Furness
Wilthy in May 1923, and entered service as a general
freighter between England and America. In 1935 she was
sold to Charente Steamship Company and renamed Politician.
Until the outbreak of world war two she sailed on the
route between Britain and South Africa. After the
outbreak of the war, she was requisitioned by the British
Admiralty, and participated in several Atlantic convoys.
Under a journey from Liverpool to New Orleans with trade goods, she sailed north towards Scotland and the Hebrides to assemble with a convoy. She ran aground 5.February 1941 outside the island of Eriskay. It soon became known to the local population that she carried a quite popular cargo, approx 22000-28000 cases of Scotch whisky. Different sources state different amount of whisky cases.. She was also loaded with some vehicles and other trade goods. The following six months most of the cargo and vehicles on board was salvaged. This was also the case of the whisky in hold # 5, which was "rescued" by the local population. 32 men were later sentenced for theft from the wreck. In the 1980s several expeditions were launch to recover more of the bottles. The stern and other remains of the Politician, rest today northeast of the small island of Calvay on a depth of approx 5 to 20 meters.
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| 57 06 07N, 007 16 28W ( Source: Canmore.org )  Picture: Politician Courtesy of Wikipedia, Public domain Last updated: March 2020 |
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