Mortimor & Tim McCarthy

Brothers Mortimer and Tim McCarthy from Kinsale were both participants in the Antarctic legends created by Scott and Shakleton.

Mortimer, who lost two fingers to frost bite joined the crew of the Terra Nova on November 25th 1910 at the New Zealand port of Lyttelton where the Terra Nova took on stores of 19 Siberian ponies and 34 dogs. His awe-inspiring career at sea had begun in 1901 in the waters of New Zealand. On his return to Cardiff on board the Terra Nova in 1913 he was presented with the Silver Polar Medal by King George the fifth at a ceremony in Buckingham Palace.

Mortimer also served in the Merchant Navy during the Boar War and the Second World War.

Long after his retirement in 1963 Mortimer revisited the Antarctic with an American expedition to Scott’s hut at Cape Evans. At the age of 81 he was the oldest man to ever set foot on Antarctica.