Prized bottles of whisky from the SS Politician wreck in Scotland are now up for grabs at a special global online auction.
Whisky lovers looking for the ultimate addition to their collections should be searching for their nearest shipwreck rather than the shelves of the local bottle store, with ‘sunken scotch’ catching all the attention at global auctions.
When the SS Politician ran aground off the Outer Hebrides in 1941, on its way to Jamaica, few knew the prize waiting within its crushed hull. Of course, it didn’t take long for enterprising locals to discover the ship’s cargo of 28,000 cases of whisky, leading to a separate saga between the islanders and the national tax men, with many bottles seized over the years.
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However, a few prized bottles – including a Ballantine’s and a VAT 69 – rescued by commercial diver George Currie, are now up for auction, so pull out your paddle from its ceremonial leather scabbard and prepare to bid. Bottled by W & A Gilbey, the bottles feature an original cork and wax seal created by auction house Christies. Sure, there’s no telling what the whisky will taste like after 80 years beneath the frozen seas of the Scottish far north, but that’s all part of the adventure.
The auction lot comes with more than a great yarn; there’s a diving helmet, bricks taken from the wreck of the SS Politician, and a poster for Whisky Galore, a 2016 production that tells the tale of the ship’s cargo after its grounding.
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Of course, this isn’t the first time spirits have been recovered from the depths and placed on the auction line up. Bottles were recovered from the wreck of the SS Wallachia, which sank in the Firth of Clyde in 1895, and sold at auction, although the drams didn’t survive as well as those of the Politician. Bottles of cognac were also retrieved from the wreck of the SS Kyros, a Swedish steamship that was sunk by a German U-Boat in the Baltic in 1917; and the wreck of the Lord Clive, sunk by Spanish cannons in 1763 and which is presently being risen, is thought to boast hundreds of bottles of rum, many of which will be whisked away by collectors.
And it’s not just the ocean that’s hoarding bottles of the good stuff; three bottles of Mackinlay’s whisky, found beneath one of Earnest Shackleton’s Antarctic huts, were returned to their original hiding place by then-New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, to be protected by the Antarctic Heritage Trust. However, the original whisky was first analysed and reincarnated by Whyte & Mackay so at least this is one tipple you can enjoy without breaking the bank.
Or taking a long sea voyage.
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