Bottles of historic whisky and beer salvaged from a 128-year-old sunken shipwreck in the Firth of Clyde fetched over £3000 at auction in Glasgow, reports the Scotsman.
The “extraordinary collection”
The “extraordinary collection” was on board the cargo ship Wallachia when it sank four miles off Largs on 29 September 1895. The steamer was bound for the West Indies when it collided with a Norwegian vessel and sank together with its precious cargo.
Seven bottles of whisky and two bottles of McEwan’s Export salvaged from the wreck by a diver over 30 years ago led to McTear’s auction of “Whisky: Timeless Treasures“. The collection, sold as a single lot, was bought by an anonymous collector for £3200 after a battle with rival bidders.
It included three bottles of Charles Wilkinson whisky, including one of only two decanters of Wilkinson’s Famous Liqueur recovered from the wreck. The set also included one full-sized and two half bottles of Robert Brown’s Four Crowns blend whisky — a favourite of Edward VII who gave the brand a Royal Warrant — together with fragments of the wooden crates they were transported in over a century ago.
A truly historic story to tell!
Ewan Thomson, McTear’s whisky specialist, said: “This was a wonderful collection, with a truly historic story to tell. Although individual bottles of ‘Wallachia whisky’ have been sold in the past, this was the largest and best-preserved selection to go under the hammer.”
“The decanter is a particularly notable find, being one of only two recovered from the ship and, as far as we know, the only one to ever come to auction. It was a great sale, and we are delighted with the price achieved.”
Mr Thomson said there had been a lot of interest in the collection ahead of the sale, although it is likely most would have considered the bottles as collector’s items rather than for drinking.
He added: “Reports from those who have been brave enough to sample these whiskies in the past range from ‘elegant and moving’ to an ‘utter abomination’, suggesting that anyone looking to sample this particular 125-year-old amber nectar should tread carefully.”
128-year-old sunken shipwreck
The single-screw cargo steamer was built by Oswald Mordaunt & Company, Southampton, for Taylor & Cameron of Liverpool and launched in March 1883. She was bought by William Burrell & Son of Glasgow in 1893 and was used on regular trips between Glasgow and the West Indies.
She left Glasgow’s Queen’s Dock at 10am on 29 September 1895, bound for Trinidad and Demerara, with a cargo including whisky, gin, beer, acids, glassware, and earthenware plus building materials and footwear.
The Wallachia grounded in foggy weather but quickly refloated only to be struck by the Norwegian steamer Flos.
The crew and the single passenger escaped on lifeboats to Toward Lighthouse. The steamer, which lies upright on the seabed 30 metres deep, was rediscovered by divers in 1977.
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Source: The Scotsman
