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SS Politician
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 pound, Jamaican banknotes. Much of the whisky was recovered by islanders from across the Hebrides, contrary to marine salvage laws. Because no Duty (economics), duty had been paid on the whisky, members of HM Customs and Excise pursued and prosecuted those who had removed 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 Prohibition in the United States, American prohibition—Oregon's state prohibition commissioner seized her cargo of whisky despite its having been approved and sealed by US federal authorities. After the British Embassy in Washington complained to the US government, the whisky was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Furness Withy
Furness Withy was a major United Kingdom, British transport business. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange. History The company was founded by Christopher Furness, 1st Baron Furness, Christopher Furness and Henry Withy (1852–1922) in 1891 in Hartlepool. This was achieved by the amalgamation of the ''Furness Line'' of steamboat, steamers with the business of ''Edward Withy and Co.'', iron and steel shipbuilders and repairers, of West Hartlepool, which was founded by Edward Withy (1844-1927), Henry Withy's brother. An early acquisition in 1900 was a controlling interest in Richardsons Westgarth & Company, a marine engineering business. Furness, Withy started with 18 vessels and over the subsequent years it owned in excess of a thousand ships.Furness Withy (Chartering) Limited status: usurped It bought the Prince line in 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atlantic Convoys
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas. Naval convoys Age of Sail Naval convoys have been in use for centuries, with examples of merchant ships traveling under naval protection dating to the 12th century. The use of organized naval convoys dates from when ships began to be separated into specialist classes and national navies were established. By the French Revolutionary Wars of the late 18th century, effective naval convoy tactics had been developed to ward off pirates and privateers. Some convoys contained several hundred merchant ships. The most enduring system of convoys were the Spanish treasure fleets, that sailed from the 1520s until 1790. When merchant ships sailed independently, a privateer coul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
County Durham
County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne and Wear to the north, the North Sea to the east, North Yorkshire to the south, and Cumbria to the west. The largest settlement is Darlington. The county has an area of and a population of . The latter is concentrated in the east; the south-east is part of the Teesside urban area, which extends into North Yorkshire. After Darlington, the largest settlements are Hartlepool, Stockton-on-Tees, and Durham, England, Durham. For Local government in England, local government purposes the county consists of the Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of County Durham (district), County Durham, Borough of Darlington, Darlington, Borough of Hartlepool, Hartlepool, and part of Borough of Stockton-on-Tees, Stockton-on-Tees. Durham Count ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Haverton Hill
Haverton Hill is an area within the borough of Stockton-on-Tees and ceremonial county of County Durham, England. Once considered a part of Billingham, Haverton Hill was once a thriving industrial community which has suffered significant depopulation since the 1960s as a result of pollution. It is situated to the north of the River Tees, near Billingham. The A1046 is the main road linking to Stockton and the A19 in the west and Port Clarence and the A178 in the east. History In 1828 Haverton Hill was a small hamlet. The settlement along with adjoining, Port Clarence, grew as a result of the Clarence Railway opening in 1833. The railway, owned by Christopher Tennant, was a rival to the Stockton and Darlington Railway and transported coal from the Durham coalfields to colliers for shipment to places like London. Haverton Hill and Port Clarence were chosen as termini as the river at that stretch was deep enough to accommodate ships. Further upstream near Stockton-on-Tees, na ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laid Down
Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one of the four specially celebrated events in a ship's life; the others are launching, commissioning, and decommissioning. Earlier, the event recognized as the keel laying was the initial placement of the central timber making up the backbone of a vessel, called the keel. As steel ships replaced wooden ones, the central timber gave way to a central steel beam. Modern ships are most commonly built in a series of pre-fabricated, complete hull sections rather than around a single keel. The event recognized as the keel laying is the first joining of modular components, or the lowering of the first module into place in the building dock. It is now often called "keel authentication" and is the ceremonial beginning of the ship's life, although s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barra
Barra (; or ; ) is an island in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, and the second southernmost inhabited island there, after the adjacent island of Vatersay to which it is connected by the Vatersay Causeway. In 2011, the population was 1,174. English and Gaelic are widely spoken, and at the 2011 Census, there were 761 Gaelic speakers (62% of the population, falling from 76% in the 1991 census). Geology In common with the rest of the Western Isles, Barra is formed from the oldest rocks in Britain, the Lewisian gneiss, which dates from the Archean, Archaean eon. Some of the gneiss in the east of the island is noted as being pyroxene-bearing. Layered textures or Foliation (geology), foliation in this metamorphic rock is typically around 30° to the east or northeast. Palaeoproterozoic age diorite, metadiorites and tonalite, metatonalites forming a part of the East Barra Meta-igneous Complex occur around Castlebay as they do on the neighbouring islands of Vatersay and Flodday, So ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South Uist
South Uist (, ; ) is the second-largest island of the Outer Hebrides in Scotland. At the 2011 census, it had a usually resident population of 1,754: a decrease of 64 since 2001. The island, in common with the rest of the Hebrides, is one of the last remaining strongholds of the Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic language in Scotland. South Uist's inhabitants are known in Gaelic as ''Deasaich'' (Southerners). The population is about 90% Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic. The island is home to a nature reserve and a number of sites of archaeology, archaeological interest, including the only location in the British Isles where prehistoric mummy, mummies have been found. In the northwest, there is a missile testing range. In 2006 South Uist, together with neighbouring Benbecula and Eriskay, was involved in Scotland's biggest-ever community ownership, community land buyout by Stòras Uibhist. The group also owns the "biggest community wind farm in Scotland", Lochcarnan, on South Uist which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Outer Hebrides
The Outer Hebrides ( ) or Western Isles ( , or ), sometimes known as the Long Isle or Long Island (), is an Archipelago, island chain off the west coast of mainland Scotland. It is the longest archipelago in the British Isles. The islands form part of the archipelago of the Hebrides, separated from the Scottish mainland and from the Inner Hebrides by the waters of the Minch, the Little Minch, and the Sea of the Hebrides. The Outer Hebrides are considered to be the traditional heartland of the Gaelic language. The islands form one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, which since 1998 has used only the Gaelic form of its name, including in English language contexts. The council area is called Na h-Eileanan an Iar ('the Western Isles') and its council is ('Council of the Western Isles'). Most of the islands have a bedrock formed from ancient metamorphic rocks, and the climate is mild and oceanic. The 15 inhabited islands had a total population of in and there are more th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Whisky Galore! (2016 Film)
''Whisky Galore!'' is a 2016 British film, a remake of the 1949 Ealing Comedy of the same name, itself based on the novel of the same name by Compton Mackenzie. It was directed by Gillies MacKinnon and stars Gregor Fisher, Eddie Izzard, Sean Biggerstaff and Naomi Battrick. The film premiered at the 2016 Edinburgh Film Festival. It went on general release in Scotland from 5 May 2017 and then in the rest of the UK, Ireland and the US from 19 May 2017. The principal film location was Portsoy, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Plot On the fictional Hebridean island of Todday during the Second World War, pompous Captain Waggett commands the local Home Guard unit, assisted by Sergeant Odd, an experienced soldier. Odd is engaged to Peggy, the daughter of Joseph Macroon, the local postmaster. Macroon's other daughter, Catriona, would like to marry George Campbell, the mild-mannered local school teacher, but he lives under the thumb of his domineering mother who opposes the match. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Whisky Galore! (1949 Film)
''Whisky Galore!'' is a 1949 British comedy film produced by Ealing Studios, starring Basil Radford, Bruce Seton, Joan Greenwood and Gordon Jackson (actor), Gordon Jackson. It was the directorial debut of Alexander Mackendrick; the screenplay was by Compton Mackenzie, an adaptation of his 1947 novel ''Whisky Galore (novel), Whisky Galore'', and Angus MacPhail. The story—based on a true event, the running aground of the SS Politician, SS ''Politician''—concerns a shipwreck off a fictional Scottish island, the inhabitants of which have run out of whisky because of Rationing in the United Kingdom, wartime rationing. The islanders find out the ship is carrying 50,000 cases of whisky, some of which they salvage, against the opposition of the local HM Customs and Excise, Customs and Excise men. It was filmed on the island of Barra; the weather was so poor that the production over-ran its 10-week schedule by five weeks, and the film went £20,000 over budget. Michael Balcon, the h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Whisky Galore (novel)
''Whisky Galore'' is a novel written by the Scottish author Compton Mackenzie. It was published in 1947. It was adapted for the cinema under the title '' Whisky Galore!''. The book has sold several million copies and has been reprinted several times. Plot summary During the Second World War, the cargo vessel ''S.S. Cabinet Minister'' is wrecked off a remote fictional Scottish island group – Great Todday and Little Todday – with fifty thousand cases of whisky aboard. Owing to wartime rationing, the thirsty islanders had nearly run out of the "water of life" and see this as an unexpected godsend. They manage to salvage several hundred cases before the ship sinks. But it is not all clear sailing. They must thwart the efforts of the authorities to confiscate the liquor, particularly in the shape of misguided, pompous Home Guard Captain Paul Waggett. A cat-and-mouse battle of wits ensues. Although the wreck and the escapades over the whisky are at the centre of the story, there is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shilling (British Coin)
The United Kingdom, British shilling, abbreviated "1s" or "1/-", was a unit of currency and a denomination of Coins of the United Kingdom, sterling coinage worth of one Pound (currency), pound, or twelve Penny (British pre-decimal coin), pre-decimal pence. It was first minted in the reign of Henry VII of England, Henry VII as the testoon, and became known as the shilling, from the Old English , sometime in the mid-16th century. It circulated until 1990. It was commonly known as a ''bob'', as in "ten-bob note", also the Scout Association's Bob a Job Week. The shilling was last minted in 1966, prior to Decimal Day, decimalisation. Following decimal day on 15 February 1971 the coin had a value of Five pence (British coin), five new pence, and a new coin of the same value but labelled as "five new pence" (later removing "new" after 1980) was minted with the same size as the shilling until 1990. The five-pence coin was reduced in size in 1990, and the old larger five-pence coins and t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
