life incident that occurred in 1941 on  the Hebridean island of Eriskay when the SS Politician ran aground.  The tale of how a group of local Scottish islanders raided a  shipwreck for its consignment of 24,000 cases of whisky quickly  became legend. Whats less well reported, however, was the fact that  the ship was also carrying a sizeable amount of hard cash. According  to official files recently released by the Home Office, there was  nearly 290,000 ten shilling notes on board as well (this would be  the equivalent of several million pounds at todays prices), not all  of which was ever recovered.