A walk around historic Courtmacsherry, Co. Cork

 

         A walk around historic Courtmacsherry, Co. Cork

 Located 50km west of Cork city on Ireland’s south coast Courtmacsherry is a coastal village laden with maritime and Antarctic exploration history.  It has  connections with the sinking of the Lusitania, the ill fated Titanic, the Robert Falcon Scott expedition of 1910-1913 and  Shackleton Imperial Trans-Antarctic expedition of 1914–1917.

 Our walk starts at the entrance to the village facing East.

A flat walk through the village with water on left hand side.  First stop is the RNLI lifeboat station.  There has been a lifeboat here since 1867. The RNLI has always been an all island institution and enjoys great support throughout the Irish Republic.

 

It was from here that the Lifeboat was launched in response to the torpedoing of the Lusitania in May 1915.  The ship was approx. 10km south of Courtmacsherry when it sank.  It was the catalyst that brought the US into WW1. Up to the end of the 20^th century there were people still living in the area that as children heard the explosion and saw the great ship go down.

Now looking to the south west we see the Old Head of Kinsale which was the last headland seen by passengers on the Titanic in April 1912 as the ill fated ship sailed from Queenstown (now named Cobh).

On the headland is the homestead of the McCarthy brothers.  The first Mort was the helmsman of the Terra Nova which was the ship that brought the ill fated Scott expedition to the Antarctic in 1910/1913.  The second Tim was on the 1914-1916 “Endurance” expedition led by another Irishman Ernest Shackleton.

The Endurance got trapped in pack ice and was eventually crushed and sank.  The crew escaped in 2 small lifeboats and after many adventures made landfall on the very inhospitable Elephant Island.  One of the lifeboats, the James Caird was strengthened and setoff to cross the southern oceans with a plan to reach the Norwegian whaling station on South Georgia a distance of some 800 miles. On board the James Caird was Tim Mc Carthy, Shackleton, Crean, McNish and the navigator Worlsley. After many days at sea they reached the southern shores of South Georgia.  The whaling station was on the Northern side. Shackleton, Crean and Worlsley set off and walked for 24 hours to reach the whaling station. Mc Carthy and Mc Nish were rescued by the Norwegians next day.  

The remainder of the Endurance crew were eventually rescued from Elephant Island using a steam powered tug that was borrowed from the Chilian navy and were returned to Punta Arenas. From there they made their way home. McCarthy RN and was lost to a German Torpedo shortly after arriving home.  His brother survived him and lived until 1967 in New Zealand.

Once we reach Woodpoint we turn to the west and walk about 3km until we reach Broadstrand which is an approximately 2km long beach. At the western end is a memorial to another member of the ill fated Scott expedition of 1912/1913 Patrick Keohane.  He was born in a house now ruined beside the memorial. He survived and lived until 1950.  Behind the memorial we can see Horse Rock so named legend has it after a horse that swam from the sinking Lusitania and made landfall here.

From here we turn inland and return to Courtmacsherry by narrow country lanes.

Total distance 10km.

John Ryan