Bob Pert, a Sussex diver is auctioning an uncontaminated bottle of whisky from the SS Politician at Gorringes in North Street, Lewes, today, Wednesday 3rd December. The ship sank off the Isle of Eriskay in 1941 with its cargo of almost a quarter of a million whisky bottles spirited away by islanders. This buccaneering communal action inspired the legendary comic film, Whisky Galore. Gorringes say Mr Pert’s bottle may go for more than £1,500.

In 1970, the Daily Mirror commissioned a team of divers including Bob Pert, a Sussex Diver to find the SS Politician. They brought back to the surface six undamaged Ballantine Scotch whisky bottles. Mr Pert says: ‘We were given a tip by a local as to its whereabouts. We were literally on the last roll of the dice when we saw this case just sitting there’. The Receiver of Wrecks allowed the sixty-one year-old from Seaford to keep the only uncontaminated bottle, which he has resisted the urge to open. He says that a couple of inches of whisky have evaporated through the cork. Because the seal remains intact, the whisky should still be drinkable.

SALE UPDATE: Mr Pert’s bottle has been bought by Tam Burt, an eighteen gap-year student currently in Paris and from Dollar in  Clackmannanshire who paid £2,200. He has long been interested in the story of the SS Politician.

Speaking from Paris, Mr Burt, an 18-year-old gap student from Dollar, Clackmannanshire, said: “I read the book (Compton Mackenzie’s Whisky Galore) as a child and I really enjoyed it. Later I won a scholarship and on that I investigated the original story by travelling to Eriskay and the AM Politician pub named after the vessel. When I saw the bottle was up for auction I decided to go for it. In my opinion the bottle was grossly undervalued’.

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