162-547: SS Politician was a cargo ship that ran aground off the coast of the Hebridean island of Eriskay in 1941. Her cargo included 22,000 cases of scotch whisky and £3 million worth of Jamaican banknotes . Much of the whisky was recovered by islanders from across the Hebrides, contrary to marine salvage laws. Because no duty had been paid on the whisky, members of HM Customs and Excise pursued and prosecuted those who had removed
324-518: A " sin tax " would raise public awareness about the harmful effects of alcohol. The whiskey tax was repealed after Thomas Jefferson 's Democratic-Republican Party , which opposed the Federalist Party of Alexander Hamilton , came to power in 1800. Benjamin Rush , one of the foremost physicians of the late 18th century, believed in moderation rather than prohibition. In his treatise, "The Inquiry into
486-582: A battle for public morals and health. The movement was taken up by progressives in the Prohibition , Democratic , and Republican parties, and gained a national grassroots base through the Woman's Christian Temperance Union . After 1900, it was coordinated by the Anti-Saloon League . Opposition from the beer industry mobilized "wet" supporters from the wealthy Catholic and German Lutheran communities, but
648-570: A breeding ground for political corruption . Most economists during the early 20th century were in favor of the enactment of the Eighteenth Amendment (Prohibition). Simon Patten , one of the leading advocates for prohibition, predicted that prohibition would eventually happen in the United States for competitive and evolutionary reasons. Yale economics professor Irving Fisher , who was a dry, wrote extensively about prohibition, including
810-718: A brief appearance as the captain of SS Cabinet Minister , the renamed ship that grounded itself on the rocks. The customs men were replaced with Captain Paul Waggett, an English officer of the Home Guard , who vainly seeks out the purloined whisky. The plot device of pitting a small group of British against a series of changes to the status quo from an external agent leads the British Film Institute to consider Whisky Galore! , along with other Ealing comedies, as "conservative, but 'mildly anarchic' daydreams, fantasies". A remake of
972-440: A decade, other temperance groups had formed in eight states, some of them being statewide organizations. The words of Rush and other early temperance reformers served to dichotomize the use of alcohol for men and women. While men enjoyed drinking and often considered it vital to their health, women who began to embrace the ideology of "true motherhood" refrained from the consumption of alcohol. Middle-class women, who were considered
1134-532: A dry sentiment leading to prohibition. Frances Willard , the second president of the WCTU, held that the aims of the organization were to create a "union of women from all denominations, for the purpose of educating the young, forming a better public sentiment, reforming the drinking classes, transforming by the power of Divine grace those who are enslaved by alcohol, and removing the dram-shop from our streets by law". While still denied universal voting privileges, women in
1296-568: A hole was made in the roof of the shared garage where McColl's car was parked; paraffin was poured in and set alight. McColl's car was only damaged in the event, but another was destroyed. According to the Customs men, they were subjected to threats of violence throughout their investigation; Bootham White reported to the commissioners in London that McColl should not be active in any further searches because of "threats and warning of bodily injury". On some of
1458-552: A merchant ship's prefix, denotes that it is a T urbine S teamer. Famous cargo ships include the 2,710 Liberty ships of World War II , partly based on a British design . Liberty ship sections were prefabricated in locations across the United States and then assembled by shipbuilders in an average of six weeks, with the record being just over four days. These ships allowed the Allies in World War II to replace sunken cargo vessels at
1620-413: A mixture of seawater and oil, Kay did not attempt to salvage its contents. Local customs officers considered that some whisky had already made its way onto the islands, and asked Kay to put a guard on the ship at night-time. He refused, pointing out that with the rough seas it was dangerous for the man left behind, and it would be a waste of his time. There was evidence that islanders had been aboard during
1782-529: A narrow channel between Indonesia and Singapore / Malaysia , and cargo ships are still commonly targeted. In 2004, the governments of those three nations agreed to provide better protection for the ships passing through the Straits. The waters off Somalia and Nigeria are also prone to piracy, while smaller vessels are also in danger along parts of the South American coasts, Southeast Asian coasts, and near
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#17328526737221944-501: A paper that made an economic case for prohibition. Fisher is credited with supplying the criteria against which future prohibitions, such as against marijuana , could be measured, in terms of crime, health, and productivity. For example, " Blue Monday " referred to the hangover workers experienced after a weekend of binge drinking , resulting in Mondays being a wasted productive day. But new research has discredited Fisher's research, which
2106-557: A rate greater than the Kriegsmarine 's U-boats could sink them, and contributed significantly to the war effort, the delivery of supplies, and eventual victory over the Axis powers. Liberty ships were followed by the faster Victory ships . Canada built Park ships and Fort ships to meet the demand for the Allies shipping. The United Kingdom built Empire ships and used US Ocean ships . After
2268-462: A ship—she's ours". Once the salvage crew had left the Politician , islanders from across the Hebrides, as well as boats from Scotland's west coast, engaged in what Hutchinson calls the "wholesale rescuing" of the whisky. They were aided in navigating round the wreck by Angus John Campbell, a local man who had served as boatswain on Politician between the wars. Wartime rationing had led to shortages of
2430-525: A similarly low alcohol content. On December 5, ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment repealed the Eighteenth Amendment. However, United States federal law still prohibits the manufacture of distilled spirits without meeting numerous licensing requirements that make it impractical to produce spirits for personal use. Consumption of alcoholic beverages has been a contentious topic in America since
2592-404: A small uninhabited island at the north end of Eriskay. Eriskay is 703 hectares (1,740 acres); the population recorded on the island in the 1931 census was 420. Worthington attempted to free Politician from the rocks, but she would not move. The rocks had breached the hull and water began to flood the engine room and stokehold and break the vessel's propeller shaft . Worthington was concerned
2754-427: A smaller island nearby, and was unable to access it without his vessel. All the requests were turned down by Gledhill, who instructed McColl to continue seizing any craft he thought were involved. In September 1941 the whisky that had been salvaged by BISC was shipped to the mainland and put into locked railway carriages which had the excise seal placed on them. By the time the trains reached Kilmarnock on their way to
2916-520: A year throughout the 1920s, and Prohibition Commissioner John F. Kramer even cited one doctor who wrote 475 prescriptions for whiskey in one day. It wasn't tough for people to write—and fill—counterfeit subscriptions at pharmacies, either. Naturally, bootleggers bought prescription forms from crooked doctors and mounted widespread scams. In 1931, 400 pharmacists and 1,000 doctors were caught in a scam where doctors sold signed prescription forms to bootleggers. Just 12 doctors and 13 pharmacists were indicted, and
3078-436: Is a conservative estimate." He also told Gledhill that he intended to step up his search efforts, and ensure that as many of the malefactors from Eriskay and South Uist were sent to prison for as long as possible. Gledhill agreed with the strategy. He accompanied McColl as often as he could, although his territory was too large and his workload proportionally higher, so the visits were not as frequent as he would have liked. With
3240-578: Is as much chance of repealing the Eighteenth Amendment as there is for a humming-bird to fly to the planet Mars with the Washington Monument tied to its tail." At the same time, songs emerged decrying the act. After Edward, Prince of Wales , returned to the United Kingdom following his tour of Canada in 1919, he recounted to his father, King George V , a ditty he had heard at a border town: Four and twenty Yankees, feeling very dry, Went across
3402-423: Is difficult to draw conclusions about Prohibition's effect on crime at the national level. Prohibition had a negative effect on the economy by eliminating jobs dedicated to the then-fifth largest industry in the United States. Support for Prohibition diminished steadily throughout its duration, including among former supporters of Prohibition. On November 18, 1918, prior to ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment,
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#17328526737223564-433: Is increasing: with bunker fuel consumption at 278 million tonnes per year in 2001, it is projected to be at 500 million tonnes per year in 2020. International standards to dramatically reduce sulphur content in marine fuels and nitrogen oxide emissions have been put in place. Among some of the solutions offered is changing over the fuel intake to clean diesel or marine gas oil, while in restricted waters and cold ironing
3726-514: Is no accurate figure for the number of bottles taken. McColl estimated that the islanders had taken about 2,000 cases (24,000 bottles). Swinson estimates 7,000 cases. Swinson bases his estimate on the interviews he made with islanders in the early 1960s; he spoke with men who had taken over 500 cases between them, and they were, Swinson records, only a few of the several hundred who visited the wreck. Holden returned with his salvage team in March 1942 to cut
3888-413: Is not stopping drinking by putting poison in alcohol ... [Y]et it continues its poisoning processes, heedless of the fact that people determined to drink are daily absorbing that poison. Knowing this to be true, the United States government must be charged with the moral responsibility for the deaths that poisoned liquor causes, although it cannot be held legally responsible." Another lethal substance that
4050-399: Is wrecked, stranded, or in distress ... 2.) A person shall not: ... The islanders took a different view of salvage and considered that they did not "steal" any cargo from local wrecks, but instead talked of "saving" or "rescuing" it from the sea. They knew Politician had been abandoned by the owners and the salvage crews; one islander later told Swinson "when the salvors quit
4212-557: The Anti-Saloon League superseding the Prohibition Party and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union as the most influential advocate of prohibition, after these latter two groups expanded their efforts to support other social reform issues, such as women's suffrage , onto their prohibition platform. Prohibition was an important force in state and local politics from the 1840s through the 1930s. Numerous historical studies demonstrated that
4374-758: The British Embassy in Washington complained to the US government, the whisky was released back to the ship. During the Second World War Politician participated in the Atlantic convoys between the UK and US. In February 1941 she was on her way to the north of Scotland, where she ran aground while attempting to rendezvous with a convoy. No-one was badly injured or killed in the accident. The local islanders continually visited
4536-717: The Caribbean Sea . A category designation appears before the vessel's name. A few examples of prefixes for naval ships are "USS" ( United States Ship ), "HMS" ( Her/His Majesty’s Ship ), "HMCS" ( Her/His Majesty's Canadian Ship ) and "HTMS" (His Thai Majesty's Ship), while a few examples for prefixes for merchant ships are "RMS" ( Royal Mail Ship , usually a passenger liner), "MV" ( Motor Vessel , powered by diesel ), "MT" (Motor Tanker, powered vessel carrying liquids only) "FV" Fishing Vessel and "SS" ( Screw Steamer , driven by propellers or screws, often understood to stand for Steamship ). "TS", sometimes found in first position before
4698-503: The European Union is planning stricter controls on emissions. Cargo ships have been reported to have a possible negative impact on the population of whale sharks. Smithsonian Magazine reported in 2022 that whale sharks , the largest species of fish, have been disappearing mysteriously over the past 75 years, with research pointing to cargo ships and large vessels as the likely culprits. A study involving over 75 researchers highlighted
4860-680: The Irish Sea , made her way past the Isle of Man , through the North Channel that separates Britain and Ireland, past Islay then to the west of the Skerryvore lighthouse and into the Sea of the Hebrides . In the vicinity of Eriskay , Politician ran aground on rocks at about 7:40 am on 4 February in bad weather and poor visibility. Sources differ on where Politician was grounded. The Canmore database run by
5022-573: The Latter-day Saints . These religious groups identified saloons as politically corrupt and drinking as a personal sin. Other active organizations included the Women's Church Federation, the Women's Temperance Crusade, and the Department of Scientific Temperance Instruction. They were opposed by the wets, primarily liturgical Protestants ( Episcopalians and German Lutherans) and Catholics , who denounced
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5184-481: The South , enacted prohibition legislation, as did individual counties within a state. Court cases also debated the subject of prohibition. While some cases ruled in opposition, the general tendency was toward support. In Mugler v. Kansas (1887), Justice Harlan commented: "We cannot shut out of view the fact, within the knowledge of all, that the public health, the public morals, and the public safety, may be endangered by
5346-523: The T & J Harrison shipping line. Charente renamed her Politician , and used her on cargo routes between Britain and South Africa; her crew soon nicknamed her Polly . At the outbreak of the Second World War Politician came under Admiralty orders and was involved in the Atlantic convoys between the UK and US. In early February 1941 SS Politician left the Liverpool docks to travel to
5508-564: The Volstead Act , to enforce the Eighteenth Amendment when it went into effect in 1920. Prohibition began on January 17, 1920, when the Volstead Act went into effect. A total of 1,520 Federal Prohibition agents (police) were tasked with enforcement. Supporters of the Amendment soon became confident that it would not be repealed. One of its creators, Senator Morris Sheppard , joked that "there
5670-457: The colonial period . On March 26, 1636, the legislature of New Somersetshire met at what is now Saco, Maine , and adopted a law limiting the sale of "strong liquor or wyne", although carving out exceptions for "lodger[s]" and allowing serving to "laborers on working days for one hower at dinner." In May 1657, the General Court of Massachusetts made the sale of strong liquor "whether known by
5832-539: The presidential election of 1916 , the Democratic incumbent, Woodrow Wilson , and the Republican candidate, Charles Evans Hughes , ignored the prohibition issue, as did both parties' political platforms. Democrats and Republicans had strong wet and dry factions, and the election was expected to be close, with neither candidate wanting to alienate any part of his political base. When the 65th Congress convened in March 1917,
5994-412: The temperance movement . The dry crusade was revived by the national Prohibition Party , founded in 1869, and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), founded in 1874. The WCTU advocated the prohibition of alcohol as a method for preventing, through education, abuse from alcoholic husbands. WCTU members believed that if their organization could reach children with its message, it could create
6156-664: The "Thirsty First". The U.S. Senate proposed the Eighteenth Amendment on December 18, 1917. Upon being approved by a 36th state on January 16, 1919, the amendment was ratified as a part of the Constitution. By the terms of the amendment, the country went dry one year later, on January 17, 1920. On October 28, 1919, Congress passed the Volstead Act , the popular name for the National Prohibition Act, over President Woodrow Wilson 's veto . The act established
6318-644: The ATS had reached 1.5 million members, with women constituting 35% to 60% of its chapters. The Prohibition movement, also known as the dry crusade, continued in the 1840s, spearheaded by pietistic religious denominations, especially the Methodists . The late 19th century saw the temperance movement broaden its focus from abstinence to include all behavior and institutions related to alcohol consumption. Preachers such as Reverend Mark A. Matthews linked liquor-dispensing saloons with political corruption. Some successes for
6480-555: The Constitution were championed by dry crusaders to help their cause. One was granted in the Sixteenth Amendment (1913), which replaced alcohol taxes that funded the federal government with a federal income tax. The other was women's suffrage, which was granted after the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920; since women tended to support prohibition, temperance organizations tended to support women's suffrage. In
6642-440: The Customs officer based on Harris, to assist them; they were also provided with two police sergeants from the mainland to assist them. On 6 and 7 June they conducted intensive searches of crofts and farms on Eriskay and Uist. Hutchinson relates that the searches destroyed peat stacks, forced entry into people's homes and disrupted the innocent and guilty alike, "an unnecessary, disproportionately harsh harassment". Sources differ over
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6804-588: The Effects of Ardent Spirits upon the Human Body and Mind" (1784), Rush argued that the excessive use of alcohol was injurious to physical and psychological health, labeling drunkenness as a disease. Apparently influenced by Rush's widely discussed belief, about 200 farmers in a Connecticut community formed a temperance association in 1789. Similar associations were formed in Virginia in 1800 and New York in 1808. Within
6966-571: The Historic Environment Scotland puts the event half way along the eastern cost of Eriskay; Roger Hutchinson's book on the story of the ship states it was on the rocks of Ru Melvick, a rock outcrop at the southernmost point of South Uist ; the Merseyside Maritime Museum considers it was on "submerged rocks on the northern side of the island of Eriskay"; and Arthur Swinson 's 1963 history places it just north of Calvay ,
7128-513: The Jamaican banknotes from Politician were presented at banks in Britain, Jamaica and other countries. As a result, in 1952 the blue ten- shilling notes were withdrawn and replaced with notes of the same design, printed in purple. Bottles of whisky have been raised from the seabed by divers, and some have been found in hiding places on Eriskay; these have been auctioned. The story of the wreck and looting
7290-409: The U.S. Congress passed the temporary Wartime Prohibition Act, which banned the sale of alcoholic beverages having an alcohol content of greater than 1.28%. This act, which had been intended to save grain for the war effort, was passed ten days after the armistice ending World War I was signed, on November 21, 1918. The Wartime Prohibition Act took effect June 30, 1919, with July 1 becoming known as
7452-652: The U.S. border with Canada, was notoriously difficult to control, especially rum-running in Windsor , Canada. When the U.S. government complained to the British that American law was being undermined by officials in Nassau , Bahamas , the head of the British Colonial Office refused to intervene. Winston Churchill believed that Prohibition was "an affront to the whole history of mankind". Three federal agencies were assigned
7614-450: The US federal authorities. George Cleaver, Oregon's state prohibition commissioner, ignored the approval, broke the seal on the cargo and seized the whisky. The ship's master refused to leave without the whisky and the British Embassy in Washington complained to the Federal authorities, who intervened and ordered the whisky released back to the ship. Cleaver was ordered to write an apology to
7776-420: The WCTU followed Frances Willard's "Do Everything" doctrine and used temperance as a method of entering into politics and furthering other progressive issues such as prison reform and labor laws . In 1881 Kansas became the first state to outlaw alcoholic beverages in its Constitution . Arrested over 30 times and fined and jailed on multiple occasions, prohibition activist Carrie Nation attempted to enforce
7938-499: The White House. After the Eighteenth Amendment became law, bootlegging became widespread. In the first six months of 1920, the federal government opened 7,291 cases for Volstead Act violations. In the first complete fiscal year of 1921, the number of cases violating the Volstead Act jumped to 29,114 violations and would rise dramatically over the next thirteen years. Grape juice was not restricted by Prohibition, even though if it
8100-477: The additives from the alcohol to make it drinkable. As a response, the Treasury Department required manufacturers to add more deadly poisons, including the particularly deadly combination referred to (incorrectly) as "methyl alcohol": 4 parts methanol , 2.25 parts pyridine base, and 0.5 parts benzene per 100 parts ethyl alcohol. New York City medical examiners prominently opposed these policies because of
8262-588: The arrival of Captain Edward Lauretson and the salvage ship Assistance , BISC returned to Politician on 21 April. The salvage operation they conducted took several months, and involved divers descending into hold five to clear out the cargo. They removed 13,500 cases and three casks of whisky from the wreck, as well as stout and sherry. Several eyewitnesses later said the salvors helped themselves to whisky whenever they wanted, and would often return to their billets on Eriskay and South Uist with bottles to share with
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#17328526737228424-504: The border to get a drink of rye. When the rye was opened, the Yanks began to sing, "God bless America, but God save the King!" Prohibition became highly controversial among medical professionals because alcohol was widely prescribed by the era's physicians for therapeutic purposes. Congress held hearings on the medicinal value of beer in 1921. Subsequently, physicians across the country lobbied for
8586-412: The bottom of the hold, a very large accumulation of loose paper, carton cases and loose bottles, both broken and unbroken". McColl was concerned about the possibility of more thefts from the ship and requested permission from his superiors to have the hold demolished by explosives; in his request he lied about the remaining cargo, and stated there were 3,000 to 4,000 cases, and thousands of loose bottles. He
8748-449: The calm weather of the summer months of 1990, but in the first storm at the end of the summer the rig secured over the wreck site was blown off its moorings and the salvage operation was cancelled. The operation uncovered 24 bottles. A blended whisky, SS Politician, containing a small amount of the whisky they had raised was produced, but did not sell well and the company went into liquidation. A separate brand of whisky has been released under
8910-408: The canal locks a ship can fit in, water depth ( draft ) is a limitation for canals, shallow straits or harbors and height is a limitation in order to pass under bridges. Common categories include: [REDACTED] The TI-class supertanker is an Ultra Large Crude Carrier, with a draft that is deeper than Suezmax, Malaccamax and Neopanamax. This causes Atlantic/Pacific routes to be very long, such as
9072-589: The captain and the Furness Withy company. On Christmas Eve 1927 she was involved in another collision and was repaired. She traded on the US eastern seaboard until 1930 when, with the onset of Great Depression , world trade dropped, and she was tied up in the River Blackwater, Essex , along with 60 other vessels. In May 1935 London Merchant was purchased by the Charente Steamship Company, part of
9234-406: The cargo. Politician was completed in 1923 under the name London Merchant . She was a general cargo ship that traded between Britain, the United States and Canada, and up and down the west coast of the US. In 1924—during the years of American prohibition —Oregon's state prohibition commissioner seized her cargo of whisky despite its having been approved and sealed by US federal authorities. After
9396-612: The consumption of alcohol. Many people stockpiled wines and liquors for their personal use in the latter part of 1919 before sales of alcoholic beverages became illegal in January 1920. Since alcohol was legal in neighboring countries, distilleries and breweries in Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean flourished as their products were either consumed by visiting Americans or smuggled into the United States illegally. The Detroit River , which forms part of
9558-507: The country. Before the Eighteenth Amendment went into effect in January 1920, many of the upper classes stockpiled alcohol for legal home consumption after Prohibition began. They bought the inventories of liquor retailers and wholesalers, emptying out their warehouses, saloons, and club storerooms. President Woodrow Wilson moved his own supply of alcoholic beverages to his Washington residence after his term of office ended. His successor, Warren G. Harding , relocated his own large supply into
9720-587: The customs commissioners wanted, and at the end of October, Gledhill had been told by his superiors not to press for the punitive charges, but to allow charges of theft; he also asked to be kept informed of any further prosecutions involving four crofters who were found with stashes of whisky on their land. Macmillan wrote back that two of the cases had been dismissed by his predecessor and the remaining two defendants had gone to sea. Neither were prosecuted when they returned. The seized boats were eventually returned to their owners, but only after they had purchased them from
9882-401: The customs men. The BISC salvors spent over four months preparing Politician for refloating. They removed extraneous weight, patched the underwater holes, pumped compressed air into the hold, and waited until the weather conditions and tides were right. On 22 September 1941 they finished preparations and the ship was lifted off the rocks. BISC's site agent, Percy Holden, wanted to tow the ship
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#173285267372210044-413: The customs officials. There was also a bad feeling towards those who had sold the whisky they found; when interviewed by Swinson in the 1960s, islanders told him that most of those involved in looting the whisky either drank it, hid it for later, or gave it to friends and families. Opinions varied about those who had taken the hidden whisky caches of others. Some islanders thought it was not theirs to take in
10206-435: The damage and see if there was any chance of salvaging her. He found that someone had been on board overnight, as personal possessions of the crew had been taken. The vessel was in the same situation as the previous day, so they signalled the situation to T&J Harrison. Harrison's asked the Liverpool & Glasgow Salvage Association to assess Politician 's status. The chief salvage officer, Commander Kay, arrived at
10368-660: The danger posed to whale sharks by shipping activities in various regions, including Ecuador, Mexico, Malaysia, the Philippines, Oman, Seychelles, and Taiwan. See also, similar role:- Empire ship , Fort ship , Park ship , Ocean ship . Prohibition in the United States The Prohibition era was the period from 1920 to 1933 when the United States prohibited the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages . The alcohol industry
10530-413: The danger to human life. As many as 10,000 people died from drinking denatured alcohol before Prohibition ended. New York City medical examiner Charles Norris believed the government took responsibility for murder when they knew the poison was not deterring consumption and they continued to poison industrial alcohol (which would be used in drinking alcohol) anyway. Norris remarked: "The government knows it
10692-411: The day's efforts. Two days later McColl and MacKenzie conducted searches of the crofts of those they had intercepted and seized thousands of items from Politician , but no whisky. Surmising that the whisky had been well hidden, he expanded his search and, on his own, searched other local crofts, but still found no whisky. His initial searches lasted until 22 March, when he thought the sea was too rough for
10854-591: The dries outnumbered the wets by 140 to 64 in the Democratic Party and 138 to 62 among Republicans. With America's declaration of war against Germany in April, German Americans , a major force against prohibition, were sidelined and their protests subsequently ignored. In addition, a new justification for prohibition arose: prohibiting the production of alcoholic beverages would allow more resources—especially grain that would otherwise be used to make alcohol—to be devoted to
11016-566: The few bootleggers ever to tell his story, Cassiday wrote five front-page articles for The Washington Post , in which he estimated that 80% of congressmen and senators drank. The Democrats in the North were mostly wets, and in the 1932 election , they made major gains. The wets argued that Prohibition was not stopping crime, and was actually causing the creation of large-scale, well-funded, and well-armed criminal syndicates. As Prohibition became increasingly unpopular, especially in urban areas, its repeal
11178-543: The film was released in June 2016. In January 1991 the broadcaster Derek Cooper presented Distilling Whisky Galore! , an hour-long documentary on the Politician , the Ealing comedy film and attempts to salvage any remaining cargo. Because of the loss of the Jamaican notes, and the number that were being cashed in banks, from 1 July 1952 the blue ten-shilling notes were no longer accepted as legal tender. They were replaced with notes of
11340-489: The first place, so it did not matter who took it the second time; one man told Swinson "it was all part of the fun". Another man said that he did not mind customs searching for it—that was their job, after all—but "what I did mind were the people who hadn't the courage to board the steamer ... they would watch where we buried the stuff and unearth it later on". Those islanders who were prosecuted were angered by what Hutchinson describes as "the perversion of natural justice, by
11502-503: The floor of the croft he had purchased; he then found two bottles buried in the ground outside. Several bottles have been raised from the wreck by divers. In 1987 a diving expedition brought up eight bottles, described as being "in perfect condition", and in 1989 the Glasgow-based company SS Politician Plc was formed to raise £500,000 for a salvage operation to locate any further bottles on the wreck. The salvage operation took place during
11664-525: The general use of intoxicating drinks; nor the fact established by statistics accessible to every one, that the idleness, disorder, pauperism and crime existing in the country, are, in some degree...traceable to this evil." In support of prohibition, Crowley v. Christensen (1890), remarked: "The statistics of every state show a greater amount of crime and misery attributable to the use of ardent spirits obtained at these retail liquor saloons than to any other source." The proliferation of neighborhood saloons in
11826-514: The goods carried aboard the ship for hire, while "freight" refers to the act of carrying of such cargo, but the terms have been used interchangeably for centuries. Generally, the modern ocean shipping business is divided into two classes: Larger cargo ships are generally operated by shipping lines : companies that specialize in the handling of cargo in general. Smaller vessels, such as coasters , are often owned by their operators. Cargo ships/freighters can be divided into eight groups, according to
11988-474: The heavy waves would soon break up the ship, so he ordered the crew to abandon ship. The radio operator sent two SOS messages; the first was "Abandoning ship. Making Water. Engine-room flooded"; the second, sent at 8:22 am stated the vessel was positioned "ashore south of Barra island, pounding heavily". One lifeboat was launched with 26 men on board. It was washed onto rocks close inshore to Rudha Dubh, an outcrop on South Uist. All survived, although one man
12150-527: The hold with an excise seal to show no duty had been paid on the contents. On 12 March 1941 Kay and the salvage crew left the wreck of Politician . In 1941 all wrecks came under the protection of the Merchant Shipping Act 1894 . Part IX, paragraph 536 of the Act covered "Interfering with wrecked vessel or wreck", and stated that: 1.) A person shall not without the leave of the master board any vessel which
12312-476: The idea that the government should define morality. Even in the wet stronghold of New York City there was an active prohibition movement, led by Norwegian church groups and African-American labor activists who believed that prohibition would benefit workers, especially African Americans. Tea merchants and soda fountain manufacturers generally supported prohibition, believing a ban on alcohol would increase sales of their products. A particularly effective operator on
12474-580: The influence of these groups receded from 1917 following the entry of the U.S. into the First World War against Germany. The Eighteenth Amendment passed in 1919 "with a 68 percent supermajority in the House of Representatives and 76 percent support in the Senate" and was ratified by 46 out of 48 states. Enabling legislation, known as the Volstead Act , set down the rules for enforcing the federal ban and defined
12636-515: The islanders. A report from the salvors to the Salvage Association passed information that some of the Jamaican banknotes had been seen on Benbecula —25 miles (40 km) from Politician . The organisation that provided the administration of British Crown colonies for the government, which included providing banknotes, was the Crown Agents ; it was they who had arranged for the printing of
12798-441: The legal authorities, directly and through their superiors. McColl argued that the looters should be tried under the terms of the specialist Customs Consolidation Act 1876 or the Merchant Shipping Act 1894 , both of which carried more punitive punishments than ordinary legislation for theft. McColl and Gledhill wrote reports to their superiors that accused the looters of vandalism on Politician and widescale black-marketeering of
12960-462: The legal definition of intoxicating liquors as well as penalties for producing them. Although the Volstead Act prohibited the sale of alcohol, the federal government lacked resources to enforce it. Prohibition was successful in reducing the amount of liquor consumed, cirrhosis death rates, admissions to state mental hospitals for alcoholic psychosis, arrests for public drunkenness, and rates of absenteeism. While many state that Prohibition stimulated
13122-466: The legitimate liquor business. Some crime syndicates moved their efforts into expanding their protection rackets to cover legal liquor sales and other business areas. Doctors were able to prescribe medicinal alcohol for their patients. After just six months of prohibition, over 15,000 doctors and 57,000 pharmacists received licenses to prescribe or sell medicinal alcohol. According to Gastro Obscura , Physicians wrote an estimated 11 million prescriptions
13284-512: The local beach and turned into lamp bases before being sold in Edinburgh; the provenance was particularly interesting to American tourists who had seen the Ealing film. Several full bottles of whisky were found on the island when locations had been forgotten by those who buried them; sand dunes that changed shape with the wind or a new thatch roof being installed often uncovered a hidden cache. In 1991 one man who moved to Eriskay found four bottles under
13446-697: The locks on the Saint Lawrence Seaway . The earliest records of waterborne activity mention the carriage of items for trade; the evidence of history and archaeology shows the practice to be widespread by the beginning of the 1st millennium BC, and as early as the 14th and 15th centuries BC small Mediterranean cargo ships like those of the 50 foot long (15–16 metre) Uluburun ship were carrying 20 tons of exotic cargo; 11 tons of raw copper, jars, glass, ivory, gold, spices, and treasures from Canaan , Greece , Egypt , and Africa . The desire to operate trade routes over longer distances, and throughout more seasons of
13608-510: The long term. Americans who wanted to continue drinking alcohol found loopholes in Prohibition laws or used illegal methods to obtain alcohol, resulting in the emergence of black markets and crime syndicates dedicated to distributing alcohol. By contrast, rates of liver cirrhosis , alcoholic psychosis , and infant mortality declined during Prohibition. Because of the lack of uniform national statistics gathered about crime prior to 1930, it
13770-586: The long voyages south of Cape of Good Hope or south of Cape Horn to transit between Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Lake freighters built for the Great Lakes in North America differ in design from sea water–going ships because of the difference in wave size and frequency in the lakes. A number of these ships are larger than Seawaymax and cannot leave the lakes and pass to the Atlantic Ocean, since they do not fit
13932-446: The looters to visit the wreck, although they still did. McColl never visited the wreck at night time. When the weather cleared on 5 April, he tried to commandeer the boat again but it was unavailable. Instead he patrolled the coast of South Uist and apprehended one boat when it landed. He began searching the crofts of South Uist, but the residents had learned of his raids on Eriskay, and hidden their bounty carefully; there were stories of
14094-473: The men made only a few trips to Politician to get what they wanted—Campbell obtained 300 cases; others picked up between 20 and 80 cases a night, and one man with a larger boat is thought to have recovered more than 1,000 cases. When the men returned to their respective islands each night, they hid their spoils in a variety of places, in case the Excise men raided. Rabbit holes, piles of peat and creels placed under
14256-459: The money by De La Rue , and who organised its shipping to the Caribbean. On hearing the news of the loss of the money, the Crown Agents thought that: The local police service is no doubt on a very small scale but the nature of the place and its surroundings should tend to reduce the chances of serious loss through the notes being presented and paid. Children on the islands were found playing with
14418-598: The money in boxes and sent it to the salvage agents via the local post office on South Uist. The notes were handed over to the Bank of England . Many had already been presented at banks for exchange. A Royal Air Force corporal changing Jamaican notes in Rothesay was arrested, but was acquitted after he proved he had recently returned from a posting in Jamaica; in November 1942 the foreman of
14580-422: The moral authorities of their households, consequently rejected the drinking of alcohol, which they believed to be a threat to the home. In 1830, on average, Americans consumed 1.7 bottles of hard liquor per week, three times the amount consumed in 2010. The American Temperance Society (ATS), formed in 1826, helped initiate the first temperance movement and served as a foundation for many later groups. By 1835
14742-420: The movement he would need more public approval, and fast. This was the start of his policy called 'Wheelerism' where he used the media to make it seem like the general public was "in on" on a specific issue. Wheeler became known as the "dry boss" because of his influence and power. Prohibition represented a conflict between urban and rural values emerging in the United States. Given the mass influx of migrants to
14904-528: The movement were achieved in the 1850s, including the Maine law , adopted in 1851, which banned the manufacture and sale of liquor. Before its repeal in 1856, 12 states followed the example set by Maine in total prohibition. The temperance movement lost strength and was marginalized during the American Civil War (1861–1865). Following the war, social moralists turned to other issues, such as Mormon polygamy and
15066-498: The name SS Politician, although this has no connection with the first brand or the whisky from the ship. The various finds of whisky—whether found on land or raised from the wreck—have been placed at auction. 57°5′52″N 7°15′43″W / 57.09778°N 7.26194°W / 57.09778; -7.26194 Cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo , goods , and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply
15228-476: The name of rum, whisky, wine, brandy, etc." to the Native Americans illegal. In general, informal social controls in the home and community helped maintain the expectation that the abuse of alcohol was unacceptable: "Drunkenness was condemned and punished, but only as an abuse of a God-given gift. Drink itself was not looked upon as culpable, any more than food deserved blame for the sin of gluttony . Excess
15390-470: The nights: the crew's bonded stores—the food, drink and tobacco for consumption during the voyage—were all looted on 19 February. Some of Kay's salvors had managed to obtain whisky from the hold. When they returned to Glasgow on one trip, a search by customs men found several bottles, which they seized. On their second trip, the salvors dropped the whisky before entering port and had it picked up later. On 10 March representatives of HM Customs and Excise secured
15552-579: The north of Scotland, where she was to assemble with other ships to be convoyed across the Atlantic to the US and Caribbean. Captain Beaconsfield Worthington was the ship's master, overseeing a crew of 51. She carried a mixed cargo that included cotton, machetes, sweets, cutlery, bicycles, cigarettes, pineapple chunks and biscuits. In the fifth hold there were eight crates of Jamaican banknotes , comprising ten- shilling and one- and five-pound notes, to
15714-462: The notes, and within two months water-stained Jamaican notes were being exchanged in banks in Liverpool. The first court cases took place at Lochmaddy Sheriff Court on 26 April; they involved four men arrested on Barra three days earlier when the police saw them unloading whisky and barrels of oil. Three of the men were fined £3 each; the other two had to pay £5. McColl and Gledhill applied pressure on
15876-399: The police who assisted in the searches turning a blind eye where they could. No seizures were made on Barra, but local police heard of large-scale selling of the whisky on the island and arrested four men, whom they charged with theft. On 9 April a second salvage boat arrived at Eriskay. While Kay and the Liverpool & Glasgow Salvage Association had been retained to salvage what they could,
16038-677: The policemen had returned to the mainland to resume their normal duties. Between 10 and 13 June the trials took place of 32 men arrested for the theft from Politician . McColl gave evidence and stated that the men had stolen whisky from a vessel that was still seaworthy; the sheriff-substitute hearing the case accepted McColl's statement. One man was found not guilty, nine others were not proven —the Scottish legal verdict to acquit an individual but not declare them innocent—three were fined and 19 were incarcerated at Inverness Prison for terms ranging between 20 days and two months. McColl still thought
16200-769: The policy, claiming that it lowered tax revenue at a critical time before and during the Great Depression and imposed "rural" Protestant religious values on "urban" America. The Twenty-first Amendment ended Prohibition, though it continued in some states. To date, this is the only time in American history in which a constitutional amendment was passed for the purpose of repealing another. The overall effects of Prohibition on society are disputed and hard to pin down. Some research indicates that alcohol consumption declined substantially due to Prohibition, while other research indicates that Prohibition did not reduce alcohol consumption in
16362-488: The political forces involved were ethnoreligious. Prohibition was supported by the dries, primarily pietistic Protestant denominations that included Methodists , Northern Baptists , Southern Baptists , New School Presbyterians , Disciples of Christ , Congregationalists , Quakers , and Scandinavian Lutherans , but also included the Catholic Total Abstinence Union of America and, to a certain extent,
16524-453: The political front was Wayne Wheeler of the Anti-Saloon League , who made Prohibition a wedge issue and succeeded in getting many pro-prohibition candidates elected. Coming from Ohio, his deep resentment for alcohol started at a young age. He was injured on a farm by a worker who had been drunk. This event transformed Wheeler. Starting low in the ranks, he quickly moved up due to his deep-rooted hatred of alcohol. He later realized to further
16686-402: The post-Civil War era became a phenomenon of an increasingly industrialized, urban workforce. Workingmen's bars were popular social gathering places from the workplace and home life. The brewing industry was actively involved in establishing saloons as a lucrative consumer base in their business chain. Saloons were more often than not linked to a specific brewery, where the saloonkeeper's operation
16848-403: The proliferation of rampant underground, organized, and widespread criminal activity , Kenneth D. Rose and Georges-Franck Pinard make the opposite claim that there was no increase in crime during the Prohibition era and that such claims are "rooted in the impressionistic rather than the factual." The highest homicide rate in the United States in the first half of the 20th century occurred during
17010-407: The raids by Gledhill and McColl, they seized boats that had been identified as being involved in visiting Politician ; these were either through reports from informants, or because there was the ship's fuel oil on the boat. Those that were not seized at the time were painted with an arrow for seizure later. By the time the court cases had been heard, the customs men had amassed a considerable number of
17172-480: The repeal of Prohibition as it applied to medicinal liquors. From 1921 to 1930, doctors earned about $ 40 million for whiskey prescriptions. While the manufacture, importation, sale, and transport of alcohol was illegal in the United States, Section 29 of the Volstead Act allowed wine and cider to be made from fruit at home, but not beer. Up to 200 gallons of wine and cider per year could be made, and some vineyards grew grapes for home use. The Act did not prohibit
17334-508: The salvage operation was questioned by police: he had been giving away the notes as souvenirs. By 1958, 211,267 notes had been located; 2,329 more had been presented at banks in Ireland, Switzerland, Malta, the US and Jamaica, some of which had been paid into the banks by people unaware of the source of the money. About 76,400 banknotes remained lost. The islanders involved in removing the whisky were resentful of those who had provided information to
17496-466: The same bonded warehouses the cargo had left in January 1941, the customs seals had been broken, the doors unlocked and the cargo part looted. Relations between the police and Customs men became increasingly strained by late 1941, and Gledhill began to criticise the force in his reports back to London. He also wrote to William Fraser, the chief constable of Inverness-shire , to complain that customs were not being fully informed of all developments, nor of
17658-525: The same design, but printed in purple on a light orange background. As at 2019, one of the notes from the wreck hangs over the bar of the Am Politician , Eriskay's only pub, which was named after the SS Politician . It was the practice of some Eriskay residents to hide their empty bottles from Politician on Eriskay's interior for fear of incriminating themselves. Many of these were filled with sand from
17820-401: The scrap metal was of no concern to them. The second salvage company was British Iron & Steel Corporation (Salvage) Ltd (BISC). Their remit was to check Kay's conclusion about the inability to refloat Politician . If it could not be refloated, then it was planned to tow part of the superstructure to be reused. If that was still not possible, stripping the vessel of as much metal as possible
17982-447: The sea and behind panels in homes were all used. Burying caches of whisky was also popular, but brought about a second problem; islanders who had not visited the wreck would watch where it was buried and dig it up as soon as the men left the burial site. One man put 46 cases in a small cave on an island off Barra as a reserve for when he ran out; when he returned only four were left. News of the islanders' removal of whisky from Politician
18144-413: The sentences were too lenient, and wrote to the interim procurator fiscal to complain; he also wrote to the Customs commissioners and said: In my opinion these few small sentences are quite inadequate to act as a general detriment to the population of these islands, who in my opinion will probably seize their next opportunity to further looting and damage. The night the prison sentences were handed down,
18306-476: The seven miles (eleven kilometres) to Lochboisdale, where she could be beached to await the heavy tugs needed to tow her to the docks on the River Clyde , where she could be scrapped. The BISC's superintendent engineer on site refused to allow the towing to take place; he said that if there was bad weather on the route, or the sea was rough, then Politician could sink in deep water and never be recovered. The vessel
18468-426: The ship as they could, and the whisky they raised was shipped back to its bonded warehouses ; this was also looted during its journey. Two salvage crews removed much of the cargo, and the second crew raised the wreck off the seabed. Part of the ship's hold, and her stern, were cut away and sank to the bottom of Eriskay Sound; the remainder of the hold was destroyed with gelignite to prevent further looting. A few of
18630-504: The ship while it is in port. The process of removing sulphur from the fuel impacts the viscosity and lubricity of the marine gas oil though, which could cause damage in the engine fuel pump . The fuel viscosity can be raised by cooling the fuel down. If the various requirements are enforced, the International Maritime Organization 's marine fuel requirement will mean a 90% reduction in sulphur oxide emissions; whilst
18792-464: The ship. The lifeboat reached Politician at about 4:00 pm, when Politician 's crew boarded the lifeboat and were taken to Eriskay. They spent the night there, billeted in small groups in the homes of the islanders; while staying on the island, the sailors told the islanders that Politician 's cargo contained whisky. The following morning, 6 February, Worthington and his first mate , R. A. Swaine, were taken back to Politician to view
18954-593: The smaller shipping companies and private individuals operate tramp ships. Cargo liners run on fixed schedules published by the shipping companies. Each trip a liner takes is called a voyage. Liners mostly carry general cargo. However, some cargo liners may carry passengers also. A cargo liner that carries 12 or more passengers is called a combination or passenger-run-cargo line. Cargo ships are categorized partly by cargo or shipping capacity ( tonnage ), partly by weight ( deadweight tonnage DWT), and partly by dimensions. Maximum dimensions such as length and width ( beam ) limit
19116-455: The spirit, and what supplies were made available were increasingly expensive because of rising duty. For several nights, the islanders worked on hooking the crates out of the oil-and-seawater-filled hold; every night between 20 and 50 men were on the wreck working to remove the whisky. As the contents being raised were covered in oil, the men's clothes were soon covered, and many began to use their wives' dresses to cover their own clothes. Some of
19278-491: The stain put on their characters and not least by the fact that each of them, members of possibly the most peaceable and law-abiding community on Britain, now had a criminal record". At the official inquiry into the sinking of Politician , Captain Worthington and First Mate Swain were cleared of all blame for her fate. Both returned to sea. Worthington captained SS Arica , which was sunk in November 1942 by U160 ; he survived
19440-512: The state's ban on alcohol consumption. She walked into saloons, scolding customers, and used her hatchet to destroy bottles of liquor. Nation recruited ladies into the Carrie Nation Prohibition Group, which she also led. While Nation's vigilante techniques were rare, other activists enforced the dry cause by entering saloons, singing, praying, and urging saloonkeepers to stop selling alcohol. Other dry states , especially those in
19602-460: The steps that should be avoided to prevent the juice from fermenting into wine. Some drugstores sold "medical wine" with around a 22% alcohol content. In order to justify the sale, the wine was given a medicinal taste. Home-distilled hard liquor was called bathtub gin in northern cities, and moonshine in rural areas of Virginia , Kentucky , North Carolina , South Carolina , Georgia , West Virginia and Tennessee . Making drinkable hard liquor
19764-472: The stern—including number five hold—from the rest of Politician . Once the waterlogged hold had been removed, the remainder of the ship rose from the sandbank, at which point she was towed to Lochboisdale and then on to Rothesay . Within two weeks the main part of the ship had been turned to scrap; number five hold remained on the floor of Eriskay Sound. The salvors extracted £360,000 in Jamaican currency from number five hold and passed it to Gledhill. He sealed
19926-431: The stolen whisky, and claimed the local police were being bribed to ignore the situation. The journalists Adrian Turpin and Peter Day write that the outrage of the customs men should be taken "with a pinch of salt"; the organisation was in the midst of providing evidence for later prosecutions and was not neutral. McColl continued with his attempts to find the whisky. On 5 June he and Gledhill persuaded Edward Bootham White,
20088-406: The stricken vessel on 8 February, and reported back that a salvage attempt was possible. The signal stated that there was 5 feet (1.5 m) of water in the main hold, 23 feet (10 m) in the engine room and 11 feet (3.4 m) in number five hold. Within days the salvage ship Ranger had arrived and 500 long tons (510 t) of cargo were removed. As hold five was below the surface, and full of
20250-430: The success of the raids: Swinson quotes Gledhill, who states that "wherever we went, we got tons of the stuff ... [At Lochboisdale , South Uist], it filled the cells, the police garage and the policeman's house. A lot of it had to be stacked outside". Hutchinson writes that the raids were "spectacularly unsuccessful", only two cases of whisky being found. Hutchinson also quotes Gledhill, who says "The ineffective result
20412-492: The task of enforcing the Volstead Act: the U.S. Coast Guard Office of Law Enforcement, the U.S. Treasury 's IRS Bureau of Prohibition, and the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Prohibition. As early as 1925, journalist H. L. Mencken believed that Prohibition was not working. Historian David Oshinsky , summarizing the work of Daniel Okrent , wrote that "Prohibition worked best when directed at its primary target:
20574-415: The total amount of whisky seized. Fraser began to become annoyed with correspondence between himself and Gledhill, and between himself and the customs commissioners in London. One of his ongoing requests was for the removal of the whisky from Lochboisdale police station, where it still occupied considerable space. He made progress only when he threatened to raise the matter with his Secretary of State , and it
20736-434: The trade in alcoholic drinks during the 19th century. They aimed to heal what they saw as an ill society beset by alcohol-related problems such as alcoholism , family violence , and saloon -based political corruption . Many communities introduced alcohol bans in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and enforcement of these new prohibition laws became a topic of debate. Prohibition supporters, called "drys", presented it as
20898-533: The type of cargo they carry. These groups are: Specialized types of cargo vessels include container ships and bulk carriers (technically tankers of all sizes are cargo ships, although they are routinely thought of as a separate category). Cargo ships fall into two further categories that reflect the services they offer to industry: liner and tramp services. Those on a fixed published schedule and fixed tariff rates are cargo liners. Tramp ships do not have fixed schedules. Users charter them to haul loads. Generally,
21060-406: The types of alcoholic beverages that were prohibited. But not all alcohol was banned; for example, religious use of wine was permitted. Private ownership and consumption of alcohol were not made illegal under federal law, but local laws were stricter in many areas, some states banning possession outright. By the late 1920s, a new opposition to Prohibition emerged nationwide. The opposition attacked
21222-430: The underground liquor market, by loading their stocks with ingredients for liquors, including Bénédictine , vermouth , scotch mash, and even ethyl alcohol ; anyone could purchase these ingredients legally. In October 1930, just two weeks before the congressional midterm elections, bootlegger George Cassiday —"the man in the green hat"—came forward and told members of Congress how he had bootlegged for ten years. One of
21384-433: The urban centers of the United States, many individuals within the prohibition movement associated the crime and morally corrupt behavior of American cities with their large, immigrant populations. Saloons frequented by immigrants in these cities were often frequented by politicians who wanted to obtain the immigrants' votes in exchange for favors such as job offers, legal assistance, and food baskets. Thus, saloons were seen as
21546-549: The value of £3 million; alongside the notes were 22,000 cases (264,000 bottles) of Scotch whisky of various brands. The whisky had been taken from bonded warehouses in Leith and Glasgow that had been damaged by German bombing, and was being shipped to the US to raise hard currency for the war effort; as an export product, none of the bottles bore an excise stamp . After leaving the River Mersey , Politician travelled through
21708-513: The vessels. Several islanders wrote to him asking for the boats to be returned, as the lobster fishing season was in progress, and they were unable to work; one man pointed out that his sons had used the boat against his wishes, and as one of the sons was in prison and the other fighting in North Africa , he wanted his boat back; one farmer whose boat had been used by local boys to visit the wreck needed his craft to tend 200 sheep and lambs grazing on
21870-523: The war and died in 1961. Swain commanded SS Custodian , another ship in the Harrison line, and survived the war. E. H. Mossman, Politician 's chief engineer, sailed on SS Barrister , which ran aground on rocks off the coast of Ireland in December 1942. According to Hutchinson, Mossman "is reputed to have commented 'we've done it again'." The writer Compton Mackenzie was a resident of Barra from 1933, and
22032-598: The war effort. While wartime prohibition was a spark for the movement, World War I ended before nationwide Prohibition was enacted. A resolution calling for a Constitutional amendment to accomplish nationwide Prohibition was introduced in Congress and passed by both houses in December 1917. By January 16, 1919, the Amendment had been ratified by 36 of the 48 states, making it law. Eventually, only two states— Connecticut and Rhode Island —opted out of ratifying it. On October 28, 1919, Congress passed enabling legislation, known as
22194-775: The war many of the ships were sold to private companies. The Ever Given is a ship that was lodged into the Suez Canal from March 25 to 28, 2021, which caused a halt on maritime trade. The MV Dali , which collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore , Maryland , United States , on 26 March 2024, causing a catastrophic structural failure of the bridge that resulted in at least 6 deaths. Due to its low cost, most large cargo vessels are powered by bunker fuel , also known as heavy fuel oil, which contains higher sulphur levels than diesel. This level of pollution
22356-443: The working-class poor." Historian Lizabeth Cohen writes: "A rich family could have a cellar-full of liquor and get by, it seemed, but if a poor family had one bottle of home-brew, there would be trouble." Working-class people were inflamed by the fact that their employers could dip into a private cache while they, the employees, could not. Within a week after Prohibition went into effect, small portable stills were on sale throughout
22518-509: The world's seas and oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade . Cargo ships are usually specially designed for the task, often being equipped with cranes and other mechanisms to load and unload, and come in all sizes. Today, they are almost always built of welded steel , and with some exceptions generally have a life expectancy of 25 to 30 years before being scrapped. The words cargo and freight have become interchangeable in casual usage. Technically, "cargo" refers to
22680-552: The wreck of Politician to unload whisky, even though it was in a hold filled with marine engine oil and seawater. Customs men undertook raids, arresting many and seizing the boats of those suspected of taking part. The excise authorities pushed for charges under the punitive customs legislation, but the authorities charged those arrested with theft. Many were found not guilty or not proven , and several were fined; 19 were incarcerated at Inverness Prison for terms ranging between 20 days and two months. Salvors were used to rescue as much of
22842-563: The year, motivated improvements in ship design during the Middle Ages . Before the middle of the 19th century, the incidence of piracy resulted in most cargo ships being armed, sometimes quite heavily, as in the case of the Manila galleons and East Indiamen . They were also sometimes escorted by warships . Piracy is still quite common in some waters, particularly in the Malacca Straits ,
23004-630: The years of prohibition, decreasing immediately after prohibition ended. By 1925, there were anywhere from 30,000 to 100,000 speakeasy clubs in New York City alone. Wet opposition talked of personal liberty, new tax revenues from legal beer and liquor, and the scourge of organized crime. On March 22, 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt signed into law the Cullen–Harrison Act , legalizing beer with an alcohol content of 3.2% (by weight) and wine of
23166-472: Was a personal indiscretion." When informal controls failed, there were legal options. Shortly after the United States obtained independence, the Whiskey Rebellion took place in western Pennsylvania in protest of government-imposed taxes on whiskey . Although the taxes were primarily levied to help pay down the newly formed national debt , it also received support from some social reformers, who hoped
23328-404: Was agreed to remove it with the whisky that the salvors had raised from the wreck. Gledhill continued to push for stringent measures to be taken against those still awaiting trial. A permanent procurator fiscal, Donald Macmillan, had replaced his temporary predecessor, and Gledhill wrote to him to try and have the remaining cases heard under customs legislation. Macmillan told him to establish what
23490-510: Was allowed to sit for sixty days it would ferment and turn to wine with a twelve percent alcohol content. Many people took advantage of this as grape juice output quadrupled during the Prohibition era. To prevent bootleggers from using industrial ethyl alcohol to produce illegal beverages, the federal government ordered the denaturation of industrial alcohols , meaning they must include additives to make them unpalatable or poisonous. In response, bootleggers hired chemists who successfully removed
23652-481: Was aware of the events surrounding Politician . In 1947 he published a fictionalised humorous account under the title Whisky Galore ; he set the story on two islands, Great Todday and Little Todday and developed the theme of "the right of small communities to self-determination in the face of larger, frequently ignorant, interfering forces", according to the historian Gavin Wallace. The book sold several million copies and
23814-558: Was based on uncontrolled experiments; regardless, his $ 6 billion figure for the annual gains of Prohibition to the United States continues to be cited. In a backlash to the emerging reality of a changing American demographic, many prohibitionists subscribed to the doctrine of nativism , in which they endorsed the notion that the success of America was a result of its white Anglo-Saxon ancestry. This belief fostered distrust of immigrant communities that fostered saloons and incorporated drinking in their popular culture. Two other amendments to
23976-479: Was curtailed by a succession of state legislatures, and Prohibition was formally introduced nationwide under the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution , ratified on January 16, 1919. Prohibition ended with the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment , which repealed the Eighteenth Amendment on December 5, 1933. Led by Pietistic Protestants , prohibitionists first attempted to end
24138-468: Was due to the fact that on the first day the local inspector of police refused to continue the search after lunchtime". The police did not work on the Sunday (the 8th), and those on Eriskay spent the day hiding or moving goods to better locations, waiting for a resumption of the raids the following week. A storm blew up on Monday 9, so the mail boat could not carry McColl and his colleagues across, and by Tuesday
24300-463: Was eagerly anticipated. Wets had the organization and the initiative. They pushed the argument that states and localities needed the tax money. President Herbert Hoover proposed a new constitutional amendment that was vague on particulars and satisfied neither side. Franklin Roosevelt's Democratic platform promised repeal of the 18th Amendment. When Prohibition was repealed in 1933, many bootleggers and suppliers with wet sympathies simply moved into
24462-639: Was easier than homebrewing good beer. Since selling privately distilled alcohol was illegal and bypassed government taxation, law enforcement officers relentlessly pursued manufacturers. In response, bootleggers modified their cars and trucks by enhancing the engines and suspensions to make faster vehicles that would improve their chances of outrunning and escaping agents of the Bureau of Prohibition , commonly called "revenue agents" or "revenuers". These cars became known as "moonshine runners" or " 'shine runners". Shops with wet sympathies were also known to participate in
24624-483: Was financed by a brewer and contractually obligated to sell the brewer's product to the exclusion of competing brands. A saloon's business model often included the offer of a free lunch , where the bill of fare commonly consisted of heavily salted food meant to induce thirst and the purchase of drink. During the Progressive Era (1890–1920), hostility toward saloons and their political influence became widespread, with
24786-411: Was given permission to proceed, and on 6 August, 16 sticks of gelignite were used to destroy number five hold and its contents. Swinson described the act as "the ultimate in stupidity, waste and vandalism, symbolising a mental attitude beyond ... [the islanders'] comprehension". Angus John Campbell commented "Dynamiting whisky. You wouldn't think there'd be men in the world so crazy as that!" There
24948-614: Was hit by another ship and damaged. After London Merchant was repaired she began trading across the Atlantic; her owners, the Furness Withy company, advertised her cargo services in The Manchester Guardian , shipping from Manchester to Los Angeles, Seattle and Vancouver. In December 1924—during Prohibition in the United States —she docked in Portland, Oregon , with whisky as part of her cargo; this had been approved and sealed by
25110-432: Was injured on the rocks. Lloyd's , the lifeboat from Barra, spent several hours searching the area south of the island in heavy mist before a report came in of Politician 's siren, which had been heard north of Eriskay. Lloyd's travelled to the area, by which time fishermen from Eriskay had boarded Politician . At Worthington's request they sailed to Rudha Dubh, collected those who had left earlier, and returned to
25272-435: Was known early on. The local Customs and Excise officer, Charles McColl, commandeered a local boat on 15 March and, with the aid of Donald MacKenzie, a local constable, went out into Eriskay Sound—the stretch of water between Eriskay and South Uist—and intercepted two boats laden with cases of whisky. On landing, McColl walked along the coast and intercepted a third boat unloading whisky. The details of 18 men were taken down from
25434-545: Was often substituted for alcohol was for the Sterno , a denatured form of ethyl alcohol adulterated with methanol and a jelling agent, commonly known as "canned heat". Forcing the substance through a makeshift filter, such as a handkerchief, created a rough liquor substitute; however, the result was poisonous, though not often lethal. Making alcohol at home was common among some families with wet sympathies during Prohibition. Stores sold grape concentrate with warning labels that listed
25596-444: Was one of six sister ships built at the yard; the others were London Commerce , London Importer , London Mariner , London Shipper and Manchester Regiment . London Merchant 's gross registered tonnage was 7,899, she was 450 ft (140 m) long and 58 ft (17.7 m) at the beam ; her depth of hold was 19 ft (5.8 m) and she could achieve 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph). While being fitted out, she
25758-514: Was reprinted several times. Two factual books deal with the events surrounding Politician ; in 1963 Arthur Swinson published Scotch on the Rocks: The True Story Behind Whisky Galore , which contained a foreword by Mackenzie, and in 1990 Roger Hutchinson wrote Polly: The True Story Behind Whisky Galore . In 1949 Mackenzie's novel became the source for a film of the same name produced by Ealing Studios ; Mackenzie made
25920-575: Was sometimes financially viable. The wreck of Thalia was nearby and known to contain iron ore, which made the salvage more lucrative for them. After two visits to Politician in early April, BISC considered that it was possible that the wreck could be refloated. McColl had visited the ship with the salvors, and was angered by that state of the vessel, which showed signs of having been extensively looted. He wrote to Ivan Gledhill—the local Customs surveyor and his direct superior—and told him "I should imagine that 300 cases have gone out of her. That, I believe,
26082-596: Was the basis for the book Whisky Galore ; an adaptation was released as a film in 1949 and a remake in 2016. The cargo ship SS Politician was built by the Furness Shipbuilding Company between 19 September 1920—when she was laid down —and 1923 at the Haverton Hill shipyard, County Durham , England. She was launched in November 1921 as SS London Merchant , and was completed in May 1923. London Merchant
26244-509: Was then towed to a point 500 yards (460 m) north of Calvay and beached on a sandbank; none of the men knew that the bank covered a rock. Politician settled, and broke her back, although no-one realised it until 25 October, when the heavy tugs came to move her to the mainland. All work on the vessel was halted over the winter months, to allow the poor weather to pass. The salvage divers had reported that number five hold still contained "one stack of probably about 2,000 cases of spirits and, on
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