{"id":15911,"date":"2026-01-06T11:48:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T11:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hebridespeople.com\/?post_type=product&#038;p=15911"},"modified":"2026-03-19T14:26:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T14:26:10","slug":"polly-the-true-story-behind-whisky-galore-by-roger-hutchinson","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/hebridespeople.com\/gd\/product\/polly-the-true-story-behind-whisky-galore-by-roger-hutchinson\/","title":{"rendered":"Polly: The True Story Behind &#8216;Whisky Galore&#8217; by Roger Hutchinson"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Early on a wartime winter\u2019s morning in 1941, the 8,000-ton cargo ship SS\u00a0<span class=\"a-text-italic\">Politician<\/span>\u00a0ran aground in the beautiful but treacherous seas of Scotland&#8217;s Outer Hebrides. Among its cargo were 260,000 bottles of whisky destined for the American market \u2013 a godsend to the local Eriskay islanders whose home-grown supply had dried up due to wartime rationing.<\/p>\n<p>News quickly spread and boats came from as far as Lewis, and before local excise officer Charles McColl could intervene, more than 24,000 bottles had been &#8216;rescued&#8217;. Villages were raided as bottles of whisky were hidden in the most ingenious ways \u2013 or simply drunk to get rid of the evidence. Meanwhile, official salvage operations foundered, and in order to pre-vent what the islanders themselves regarded as legitimate salvage, the hull of the\u00a0<span class=\"a-text-italic\">Politician<\/span>\u00a0was dynamited.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The story is well known through Compton Mackenzie\u2019s bestselling book\u00a0<span class=\"a-text-italic\">Whisky Galore<\/span>\u00a0and the famous 1949 Ealing comedy of the same name. In this book, acclaimed journalist and Hebridean expert Roger Hutchinson tells the true story of one of the most bizarre events ever to have happened in Scottish waters.<\/p>\n<p>Paperback<br \/>\nISBN 978-1-78027-850-6<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":15912,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}"},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[549,467],"product_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-15911","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-books","7":"product_cat-history","9":"first","10":"instock","11":"shipping-taxable","12":"purchasable","13":"product-type-simple"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Polly: The True Story Behind &#039;Whisky Galore&#039; by Roger Hutchinson - Hebrides People<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hebridespeople.com\/gd\/product\/polly-the-true-story-behind-whisky-galore-by-roger-hutchinson\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Polly: The True Story Behind &#039;Whisky Galore&#039; by Roger Hutchinson - Hebrides People\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The story is well known through Compton Mackenzie\u2019s bestselling book\u00a0Whisky Galore\u00a0and the famous 1949 Ealing comedy of the same name. 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Paperback ISBN 978-1-78027-850-6\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/hebridespeople.com\/gd\/product\/polly-the-true-story-behind-whisky-galore-by-roger-hutchinson\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Hebrides People\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-19T14:26:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/hebridespeople.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Roger-Hutchinson-Polly.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hebridespeople.com\\\/product\\\/polly-the-true-story-behind-whisky-galore-by-roger-hutchinson\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hebridespeople.com\\\/product\\\/polly-the-true-story-behind-whisky-galore-by-roger-hutchinson\\\/\",\"name\":\"Polly: The True Story Behind 'Whisky Galore' by Roger Hutchinson - Hebrides People\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hebridespeople.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hebridespeople.com\\\/product\\\/polly-the-true-story-behind-whisky-galore-by-roger-hutchinson\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hebridespeople.com\\\/product\\\/polly-the-true-story-behind-whisky-galore-by-roger-hutchinson\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hebridespeople.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/Roger-Hutchinson-Polly.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-06T11:48:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-19T14:26:10+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hebridespeople.com\\\/product\\\/polly-the-true-story-behind-whisky-galore-by-roger-hutchinson\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"gd\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/hebridespeople.com\\\/product\\\/polly-the-true-story-behind-whisky-galore-by-roger-hutchinson\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"gd\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hebridespeople.com\\\/product\\\/polly-the-true-story-behind-whisky-galore-by-roger-hutchinson\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hebridespeople.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/Roger-Hutchinson-Polly.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hebridespeople.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/Roger-Hutchinson-Polly.png\",\"width\":1080,\"height\":1080,\"caption\":\"Book cover for \\\"Polly\\\" by Roger Hutchinson, showing three sailors by cliffs and sea, one with a bottle, and a shipwreck in the background.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hebridespeople.com\\\/product\\\/polly-the-true-story-behind-whisky-galore-by-roger-hutchinson\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hebridespeople.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Shop\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hebridespeople.com\\\/shop\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Polly: The True Story Behind &#8216;Whisky Galore&#8217; by Roger Hutchinson\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hebridespeople.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hebridespeople.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Hebrides People\",\"description\":\"Discover your Hebridean roots\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hebridespeople.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"gd\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Polly: The True Story Behind 'Whisky Galore' by Roger Hutchinson - Hebrides People","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/hebridespeople.com\/gd\/product\/polly-the-true-story-behind-whisky-galore-by-roger-hutchinson\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Polly: The True Story Behind 'Whisky Galore' by Roger Hutchinson - Hebrides People","og_description":"The story is well known through Compton Mackenzie\u2019s bestselling book\u00a0Whisky Galore\u00a0and the famous 1949 Ealing comedy of the same name. 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