Climber says memorabilia of explorer should be kept in State

A KERRY mountaineer has made a final plea for financial support to acquire memorabilia belonging to a Cork Antarctic explorer that is due to be auctioned in Christie’s of London today.

A model of an Antarctic sledge and a 100-year-old chart belonging to Patrick Keohane, who served on the Scott-led Terra Nova Expedition are among items which are due to be sold in the exploration and travel sale at the London auction house.

A black silk cap which Keohane wore, his inner eiderdown sleeping bag, and a flag which he made and embroidered, comprising both the Irish harp and the English standard of the Cross of St George, are also in the catalogue.

Patrick Keohane, Courtmacsherry petty officer, was one of six Irish selected for Robert Falcon Scott’s Antarctic venture of 1910-1913.

Keohane was among the group which found Scott’s frozen body, and that of two colleagues, on November 12th, 1912, after the race to the South Pole was lost to Norwegian Roald Amundsen.

Nicknamed “Patsy”, Keohane was the subject of an entry in Scott’s journal on June 22nd, 1911. He noted that the petty officer had become “intensely Irish and desirous of political argument”.

Mike O’Shea, adventurer and founder of the Irish Explorers Trust , based in Dingle, Co Kerry, said it was vital that the items were not lost to the State.

The trust has already acquired Ernest Shackleton’s ration bag and holly sprig, several books and reports from Antarctica, a cruet set from Terra Nova, a diary, medals and a sledging suit belonging to Patrick Keohane.

The memorabilia acquired so far through public appeals have been given to Kerry County Museum for conservation and display, under a contract arranged with the trust.

International author and mountaineer Joe Simpson has paid tribute to the trust’s efforts, and has said that it was “vital that Ireland reclaims this memorabilia”. Mr O’Shea said that adventurers like Shackleton and Keohane were “famous all over the world, and yet we have so little belonging to them” – apart from items owned by late Kerry adventurer Tom Crean, who served with both Scott and Shackleton. Other items due to be sold at Christie’s today include a camera which Shackleton purchased for use on the British Antarctic Expedition of 1907-9. The Irish Explorers Trust can be contacted through www.irishexplorerstrust.ie.