Irish Explorers
As a nation Ireland has been at the forefront of Polar Exploration and has produced some of the most influential Adventurers over the last Century. The names of Irish men dot the charts of the polar regions and those on the Antarctica regions have been now sung in our past expeditions, Ernest Shackleton, Tom Crean, Pat Keohane, the MacCarthy brothers Mortimer and Tim and the Robert Forde all Irish legends of the of Polar exploration. Now this Irish expedition will focus on our Irish Arctic explorers and bring their daring deeds to front stage. McClure, McClintoch, Kellett, Beaufort, Crozier as we head North to the Geagraphical North Pole.
The Arctic presents the toughest of terrains that can be encountered on Earth. Less people have reached the North Pole than have travelled in outer Space. Such a hard, unrelenting environment, austere and beautiful, awesome in its natural power, is the ultimate challenge to the Irish explorer seeking to reach the limits of what is possible for human beings to endure.
We are attempting the challenge with commitment, passion, intelligence and great heart as we head North in the spirit of our Irish Arctic explorers.
Robert McClure
Sir Robert John Le Mesurier McClure (or M’Clure) (28 January 1807 – 17 October 1873) was an Irish explorer (born Wexford) of the Arctic. In 1854, he was the “first to transit the Northwest Passage (by boat and sledge), as well as the “first to circumnavigate the Americas.
Sir Francis Leopold McClintoch
Admiral Sir Francis Leopold McClintock (8 July 1819 – 17 November 1907) was an Irish explorer (born Dundalk, Co Louth) in the British Royal Navy who is known for his discoveries in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The start point for the Irish North Pole Expedition is on McClintoch inlet.
Henry Kellett
Vice Admiral Sir Henry Kellett KCB (2 November 1806 – 1 March 1875), born West of Ireland, was a British naval officer and explorer. In 1845 he was appointed captain of the survey ship HMS Herald, being reassigned in 1848 to join the search for Sir John Franklin. In 1852, he commanded HMS Resolute and went to the aid of Robert McClure, whose vessel, Investigator, was trapped in the Arctic.
Francis Beaufort
Rear-Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort, FRS, FRGS (27 May 1774 – 17 December 1857) was an Irish born (Navan, co Meath) hydrographer and officer in Britain’s Royal Navy. Beaufort was the creator of the Beaufort scale for indicating windforce. For eight years, Beaufort directed the Arctic Council during its search for the explorer, Sir John Franklin, lost in his last polar voyage to search for the legendary Northwest Passage. The Beaufort Sea – an arm of the Arctic Ocean - was named after him.
Francis Crozier
(September 1796–after 1848?) was born in Ireland at Banbridge, County Down he was a British naval o!cer who participated in six exploratory expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic. Crozier became a close friend and con”dante of the explorer, James Clark Ross and worked with him on many other expeditions both in the Arctic and Antarctic.
His name and the expeditions he took part in became synonymous with the 20th century’s Heroic Age of Exploration under Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton – In 1845 he joined Sir John Franklin on the Northwest Passage expedition as captain of HMS Terror.
All were lost in one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of Polar exploration.
