Calvay

The small island of Calbhaigh - geograph

Calvay () is a currently uninhabited

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

situated in the Sound of Eriskay in the

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 islan ...

, at . It is one of ten islands in the Sound of Barra, a

Site of Community Importance A Site of Community Importance (SCI) is defined in the European Commission Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) as a site which, in the biogeographical region or regions to which it belongs, contributes significantly to the maintenance or restoration at ...

for conservation. It was here that the ship '' SS Politician'' ran aground with a cargo of whisky in 1941 and inadvertently provided the inspiration for

Compton MacKenzie Sir Edward Montague Compton Mackenzie, (17 January 1883 – 30 November 1972) was a Scottish writer of fiction, biography, histories and a memoir, as well as a cultural commentator, raconteur and lifelong Scottish nationalist. He was one of t ...

's 1947 novel '' Whisky Galore''. Islands of the Sound of Barra Uninhabited islands of the Outer Hebrides {{WesternIsles-geo-stub