THE EXPERIENCES OF some heroic West Cork explorers have been commemorated in a revamped immersive museum, 'The Shackleton Experience' in Athy, Kildar, dedicated to the life of Kildare's Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922).
The €7.5m redevelopment, with its iceberg-like extension, offers an interactive experience where visitors can feel the cold, hear the winds howl, and pull replicas of sleighs. Visitors can listen to Shackleton's voice, and even see the wooden cabin from his ship Quest, where he died from a heart attack.
There are West Cork links to Shackleton, most notably in Tim McCarthy from Kinsale (1888-1917), who is remembered for his links with the infamous Trans-Antarctic Expedition, 1914-17, when the Endurance was marooned in the Weddell Sea for 14 months. The ship, carrying a crew of 27 and over 50 sleigh dogs, was trapped in ice up to 18-feet thick before finally keeling over. Frank Worsley described the heartbreaking, and surely terrifying, scene on November 21st, 1915:
'This evening, as we were lying in our tents we heard the Boss call out, "She's going, boys!" We were out in a second...there was our poor ship a mile and a half away struggling in her death-agony. She went down bows first, her stern raised in the air. She then gave one quick dive and the ice closed over her for ever. It gave one a sickening sensation to see it, for, mastless and useless as she was, she seemed to be a link with the outer world. Without her our destitution seems more emphasised, our desolation more complete'.
'When one knows every little nook and corner of one's ship as we did...and I doubt if there was one amongst us who did not feel some personal emotion when Sir Ernest, standing on the top of the look-out, said somewhat sadly and quietly, "She's gone, boys".'
Hundreds of miles from civilisation, the crew were reduced to eating seal stakes and stewed penguin, and rationed to one biscuit and three lumps of sugar per day. When the meat ran out, they killed and ate the dogs. In April 1916 Able Seaman McCarthy was selected as one of five sailors to man the James Caird, a 23-foot open boat, to search the Southern Ocean for potential rescuers. Navigator Frank Worsley repeatedly praised McCarthy for keeping the boat afloat. Against all the odds, the whole crew eventually returned safely to England, where McCarthy was awarded the Bronze Polar Medal. Having survived a two-year nightmare against all the odds, fortune finally conspired against him. As the Great War raged on, the Royal Navy needed crews. McCarthy signed up as a leading seaman on oil tanker
SS Narragansett. On March 16th 1917, the ship was torpedoed and McCarthy was killed, at the age of just 28. Today, McCarthy Island, off King Haakon Bay, is named after him, and bronze busts of him and his brother Mortimor stand in Kinsale.
Mortimer (Monty) McCarthy (1882-1967) of Lower Cove, Kinsale, joined the Royal Navy as a 12-year-old boy seaman. He volunteered to serve on the Terra Nova accompanying Robert Scott, only to find on January 17th 1912 that Roald Amundsen had infamously reached the South Pole a month earlier. On his return, Monty received the Silver Polar Medal from King George V. Then, more excitement when he joined the Northern Exploration Company in Tromsø, Norway, to explore
the Arctic.
He was not the only West Cork man to serve with Scott as 16-year-old Robert Forde from Moviddy, Bandon (1875-1959) rose to Petty Officer 1st Class on the same ship, the Terra Nova. Forde was responsible for surveying the area around Ross Island and the Polar Plateau. Very much an all-purpose handyman, he got his hand badly frostbitten while clearing snowdrifts, and had to wear a glove for the rest of his life. Returning to Ireland, he settled in Cobh, where he lies buried in the Old Church Cemetery. Today, Mount Forde glacier is named in his honour.
The three men were memorialised on the 'Ice Men' stamps issued by An Post in 2021, along with two other Cork explorers, Patrick Keohane and Edward Bransfield.
Patrick Keohane from Barry's Point, Courtmacsherry (1879-1950), whose statue stands today in Lislee Court, also had links to the Terra Nova and shared a tent with Scott on the expedition, leading a pony to the foot of Beardmore glacier and successfully reaching parallel 85°15'. On eight occasions during his journey back to Cape Evans, he slipped down crevasses and was saved by his harness. Scott held him in high regard, writing in his diary that his 'good cheer and courage' were a great comfort. On November 12th 1912, Keohane was in the party that found Scott's frozen body, the skin yellow and transparent.
Meanwhile, the very first person to record the existence of Antarctica was Edward Bransfield from Ballinacurra, Midleton (c.1785-1852). Press-ganged into service at 18 years-old, Bransfield worked his way up to become master of several ships. On January 30th 1820, while commander of the English merchant ship William, he sighted Trinity Peninsula, the northernmost point of the Antarctic mainland. 'Such was the discovery of Antarctica,' writes biographer Roland Huntford. Bransfield noted in his log 'two high mountains, covered with snow', one of which has since been named Mount Bransfield.
The revamped Shackleton Experience Museum was officially opened on October 10th.