Polly by Roger Hutchinson

Author:Roger Hutchinson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Birlinn

We were working on a boat that went aground off Cumbrae Head, when we got word to go to Lochboisdale. We hadn’t a clue what was in the Politician until we arrived – of course it was wartime and things were more secretive. Anyway, when we arrived we went into Lochboisdale and someone there took us around to where the wreck was.

There was another boat alongside and she was supposed to let us in – we had pumps on board. Anyway, the crew must have got a hold of some whisky because they weren’t capable of doing anything, far less letting us in alongside. The skipper went up to the bridge and rang the telegraph. No one answered from down below. So all he did was to let her ropes go and the current took her away. One of the crew dropped her anchor and we got in.

We were to take the whisky out of the big boat, but her fuel tanks had burst and the thick black oil filled the holds. The oil rose to the top of the water, so when the slings went down and were loaded by the divers, on the way up they had to come through this layer of oil – it was a real mess. All they did was lift the loads and throw them into our hold, and we brought the stuff into Lochboisdale. Then others would come on board and pick out the better, cleaner cases, and these were taken away to Glasgow, or somewhere in the south.

That didn’t last; we were detailed to throw the rest into the sea because it was considered hardly worth while to take the stuff away, there being no duty paid on it.

There was a Lochboisdale man with me and he was working on lobster creels. One night when we were returning from the Politician to Lochboisdale he said, “Come out with me to lift the creels.” They were near Calvay Island. Every one we lifted had half a dozen bottles in it! Most of the stuff was taken by others. There was only one Customs officer, and he couldn’t be there every day.

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