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Mortimer McCarthy

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Mortimer McCarthy
Mortimer on the 2000 Timothy and Mortimer McCarthy memorial by Graham Brett in Kinsale
Born(1882-04-15)15 April 1882
Died11 August 1967(1967-08-11) (aged 85)
New Zealand
Monuments
NationalityIrish
OccupationSailor
Known forPolar exploration
SpouseEllen Coughlan
Children3
AwardsPolar Medal (silver)

Mortimer McCarthy (15 April 1882 – 11 August 1967) was an Irish sailor and polar explorer.

Early life

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McCarthy was born in Kinsale, County Cork, Ireland on 15 April 1882.[1] He was brought up in Lower Cove, a small settlement on the east side of the mouth of the River Bandon, about 4 km (2.5 miles) south-east of Kinsale.[2] He started his career as a mariner at the age of 12, when he joined the Royal Navy[a] as a boy seaman.[2][1] He received the South Africa war medal for serving during the Second Boer War.[1] McCarthy left the navy and moved to New Zealand in 1907, where he became a merchant seaman.[1]

Polar exploration

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Plaque on the key-side memorial in Kinsale

In 1910, McCarthy volunteered to join the British Antarctic Expedition under Captain Robert Falcon Scott.[1] With Scott, he made three Antarctic voyages.[2] He served on the crew on Scott's failed 1912-13 Terra Nova Expedition which attempted to reach the South Pole.[1] For his service with this expedition he received the Silver Polar Medal from King George V at a Buckingham Palace investiture.[3][1] After failing in his attempt to get a place on another Antarctic expedition, on Endurance with Sir Ernest Shackleton for the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, he joined the Northern Exploration Company in Tromsø in Northern Norway which gave him the opportunity to work in the Arctic.[1]

First World War

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McCarthy rejoined the Royal Navy to serve on destroyers during the First World War.[1] He settled again in Lyttelton, New Zealand in 1920.[4]

Later life

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In 1963, at 81 years old, as one of the last three living survivors of Scott's Antarctic expedition, he accepted an invitation from the American Antarctic Survey to visit the Antarctic once more.[2] On the trip he became the oldest person to ever visit the South Pole.[4][1] He died in New Zealand in 1967 aged 85.[2]

Family

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He had three sons with his wife Ellen Coughlan who he married in 1923 and who was also from Kinsale.[1]

Memorials

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The McCarthy brothers' memorial in Kinsale

Mount McCarthy in Antarctica is named after him.[5] McCarthy's brother, Tim, was also a sailor and polar explorer, and in September 2000 joint statues of the two of them were unveiled in their home town of Kinsale.[1]

Notes

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  1. ^ All of Ireland was part of the United Kingdom at this time.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Murphy, David. "McCarthy, Timothy ('Tim')". Royal Irish Academy Dictionary of Irish Biography. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Other Cork Antarctic Explorers". Remembering Edward Bransfield. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  3. ^ "No. 28740". The London Gazette. 25 July 1913. pp. 5322–5333.
  4. ^ a b "Back to Polar Zone at Age of 84". Herald Express. 19 November 1962. p. 7.
  5. ^ "Antarctica Detail". USGS. Retrieved 30 October 2020.