Famous Cork explorer's ski pole 'should be repatriated back to Cork'

A request is to be made to the Antarctic Heritage Trust for a recently discovered ski pole belonging to a Cork explorer to be brought home to Ireland.

Patrick Keohane, from Courtmacsherry in West Cork, was a member of the famous Robert Falcon Scott’s team during his epic Terra Nova expedition.

Although not as famous as other Irish polar explorers such as Ernest Shackleton or Tom Crean, Keohane was one of the most trusted men on Scott’s 1910 expedition.

His ski pole was recently discovered on the continent’s Cape Evans by archaeologist Emma St Pierre, and it is undergoing expert conservation by members of the Antarctic Heritage Trust.

Courtmacsherry locals erected a statue to Keohane’s memory in the village, but there’s little else belonging to the explorer in the locality to remember him.

Being from a coastal village, Keohane, like many others, enlisted in the British Royal Navy when he was just 16, and quickly rose to the rank of Petty Officer.

He was so reliable and tough that Scott personally selected him as one of the 15 men who would accompany him on the Terra Nova expedition.

Fine Gael councillor John Michael Foley will ask Cork county councillors for support a request the Antarctic Heritage Trust to give the Keohane artifact to Ireland.

He said it is only fitting that this historic item should come to the explorer’s homeland where it could be put on display, possibly at Camdem/Fort Meagher in Crosshaven or the council-run museum at Kinsale.

“It would be nice to have this historic object back in the county of Keohane’s birth.

“It would be great for educating younger people about the hard times some of our ancestors had to endure, and it would also be good from a tourism point of view as well.

“So many Irish people have undertaken extraordinary exploits in the world’s history that it’s important we highlight their achievements here at home as much as we can,” Mr Foley said.