Adventurers create new Irish award to celebrate achievements of less well-known polar explorers

Irish Independent

10 hours ago

The Irish Polar Institute has been initiated by a group of sailors and adventurers to celebrate the almost-forgotten achievements of individuals in the Arctic and Antarctic.
Sailors Jarlath Cunnane and Paddy Barry, who were leaders of the first global circumnavigation by a yacht via the Arctic polar route (from 2001 to 2005), are among the founding members of the institute. The chair is Máire Breathnach, a musician from Dungarvan, Co Waterford, and the first woman to sail solo around Ireland.
We have five great explorers from Co Cork alone
Fifteen years ago, she and her niece, Sibéal Turraoin, became the first two Irish women to navigate the Northwest Passage, the ice-bound Arctic route linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
Ms Breathnach has also crossed the Atlantic several times and sailed around South America, for which she has been honoured by the Irish Cruising Club.
'It's a great idea,' Ms Breathnach says of the institute.
'We have five great explorers from Co Cork alone who aren't so well known, such as Courtmacsherry's Patrick Keohane, a key member of Robert Scott's Terra Nova expedition to the South Pole.'
She also cites Edward Bransfield from Ballinacurra, near Midleton, Co Cork, who was press-ganged into the British navy as a teenager and became first man to sight Antarctica; the Kinsale brothers Mortimer and Tim McCarthy who served with Scott and Shackleton respectively; and Robert Forde of Bandon, who was also part of Scott's Terra Nova expedition and after whom a peak in Antarctica is named.
'Some have statues and stamps named after them, but they are not always remembered now and the new institute plans to recognise them with a medal,' Ms Breathnach said.
'Inevitably the sort of people we will be recognising for their achievements will be male, but in more recent years you have women like Cork doctor Clare O'Leary who was the first Irish female to trek to the South Pole.'
The Irish Polar Institute aims to take nominations for its annual award from its members – open to anyone with an interest in polar history and exploration, for just €20 a year.