Veteran Of Scott’s Voyage Dies

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31440, 5 August 1967, Page 38

Veteran Of Scott’s Voyage Dies

One of the few surviving members of Captain Scott’s last expedition to the Antarctic in 1910-13, 89-year-old Mr Mortimer McCarthy, died early yesterday morning from’ burns suffered when his Lyttelton home caught fire just before midnight.

Bom in Kinsale, County Cork, Mr McCarthy went to sea at the age of 12. He came to New Zealand in 1906 and sailed from Lyttelton as an able seaman in the Terra Nova on November 26, 1910. When the ship was in the Bay of Whales, he sighted Amundsen’s ship, the Fram, from the rigging. Later, the crews met and some were given pocket knives by Amundsen.

After the Terra Nova’s trip, Mr McCarthy was paid off, and he later accompanied an expedition to the Arctic. After serving in various ships he returned to New Zealand in 1920.

In the last 40 years Mr McCarthy served in many New Zealand ships, including the Mararoa and the old Maori. He was well known by thousands of travellers in the inter-island steamer express. He served in the Rangatira and the Wahine, and was a member of the crew of the new Maori on its maiden voyage to New Zealand. His seafaring career ended only five years ago.

When he visited the Antarctic in the Arneb as a guest of the United States, Navy in 1963, Mr McCarthy became the oldest man to set foot on Antarctica. Mr McCarthy was at sea during the Boer War, the

First World War and the Second World War, and three times was shipwrecked off the New Zealand coast. After 70 years at sea, Mr McCarthy still made coastal voyages to fill vacancies. For some time before his death he worked as a night watchman aboard ships at the port Flags above the Lyttelton Harbour Board’s Port Building and the Watersiders Centennial Hall were at halfmast yesterday.

Mr McCarthy was a member of the Lyttelton R.S-A. and a member of the Seamen s Union until his death. He was an honorary life member of the Canterbury branch of the Antarctic Society. Mr McCarthy is survived by three sons.