Medal honours Argentine naval link

AN ARGENTINIAN man of Irish descent who served on Irish merchant vessels during the Emergency has been honoured with the Mercantile Marine service medal by the Department of Transport.

The grandsons of the late Timoteo McCarthy accepted the medal on behalf of their grandfather. Timoteo McCarthy was the son of Irish emigrants John McCarthy and Mary Callaghan who left Cork for Buenos Aires in 1889.

Timoteo and his brother Patricio were brought to Dublin aged 10 and eight respectively and lived first in the Sacred Heart Home, Drumcondra, run by the Sisters of Charity, and then St Vincent’s Orphanage, Glasnevin.

Both went to sea as young men and became the only Argentine nationals to have served on Irish registered vessels during the Emergency. Patricio was killed on board the steam trawler Leukoswhen it was attacked by a German submarine in 1940. Timoteo died at sea in 1960.

Patricio and Timoteo, and his sons Timothy and Gerard McCarthy, were all decorated by the Irish Government for their services to Ireland during the Emergency. However, Timoteo’s medal was later lost.

Sharon McGrath, superintendent of the Mercantile Marine Office of the Department of Transport yesterday presented Mr McCarthy’s grandsons – Peter Mulvany, chairman of the Irish Seamen’s Relatives Association and his cousin Alan McCarthy – with a replacement medal and a certificate. This amended his name to Timoteo as it had been anglicised to Timothy in the official records.

Mr Mulvany, who was instrumental in securing pardons for Irish soldiers executed during the first World War through the “Shot at Dawn” campaign, said yesterday’s presentation was the culmination of several years of research.

“This is a recognition of the special link, the unique connection, between Ireland and Argentina.”