A container carrying almost 10,000 bottles of Gosling?s Black Seal rum spilled onto St. John?s Anglican Cemetery in Pembroke yesterday.

Gosling?s director of operations Ellis Franzoni said the container had 800 cases of rum, or almost 9,600 bottles, valued at $211,200.

Mr. Franzoni said there would be not be a shortage of rum on the Island due to the mishap.

Friendly Forwarders parked the container near the cemetery soon after it arrived in Bermuda. The precious cargo still hadn?t cleared Customs by the time of the accident.

At around 10.30 a.m. the 30,000 pound container became unsteady as the sand underneath gave way, Joe Vieira of Vieira Trucking said.

?Normally containers are pulled off the dock but if the customers are not ready to take it we keep it somewhere until they are ready for it,? Mr. Vieira said. ?We have not been able to see what it is like inside.?

The chairman of the St. John?s graveyard committee, Raymond Augustus, said the container should not have been parked on the vestry?s property.