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Endurance Obituaries |
 Endurance Obituaries |
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TIMOTHY F. MCCARTHY
(15/07/1888 – 16/03/1917)
BORN : LOWER COVE. KINSALE. IRELAND
DIED : KILLED IN ACTION. ENGLISH CHANNEL
NICKNAME : TIM
DUTY : LEADING SEAMAN
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MCCARTHY TAKEN WEDDELL SEA
Awarded Bronze Polar Medal
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TIM MCCARTHY’S BUST. KINSALE PARK.
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Tim McCarthy was a true seaman and the best on board the Endurance.
Born to John and Mary McCarthy in Kinsale .County Cork Ireland in 1888 . He and his elder brother Mortimer, (known as Morty) both took part in Antarctic expeditions. Mortimer on the “Aurora” and “Terra Nova” , and Tim on the “ Endurance”.
Tim was born in the Lower Cove district of Kinsale, a place renowned in Ireland for producing skilled seamen and fishermen. Just the mention of being born in that district was a guarantee of seafaring quality to a prospective employer.
It is no wonder that Shackleton hired him and selected him, to help sail the James Caird on the epic voyage from Elephant Island to South Georgia.
McCarthy it would seem was camera shy, as he appears on only one or two of Hurley’s many photographs taken on the expedition.
Tim was to have his life cut short, like so many young men of his generation in World War 1. He joined the Royal Navy Reserve as a Leading Seaman and on Friday 16th March 1917 just three weeks after returning to England from the Antarctic and at the age of only 28, was killed in action at his gun post onboard the S.S. Narragansett in the English Channel.
He went down with his ship, which was torpedoed in a battle with the German Navy. Tim was the first of the expedition members to lose his life in W.W.1.
He is remembered on the Plymouth Naval Memorial Panel number 23.
In 2000, both Tim and his brother Mortimer, were honoured by their hometown of Kinsale with a commissioned bust of the two of them,which stands in the town’s park.
Tom Crean’s daughter Mary Crean O’Brien was one of many present at the unveiling ceremony.
With special thanks to the Kinsale Historical Society and thanks also to Brian Graham and colleagues at Kinsale Chamber of Commerce.
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