Patrick Keohane
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Petty Officer Patrick Keohane (1879-1950) was an Irish member of Robert Falcon Scott's Antarctic expedition of 1910-1913, the Terra Nova Expedition.
[edit] Biography
Patrick Keohane was born in Courtmacsherry, County Cork, Ireland in 1879. He joined the Royal Navy and rose to the rank of petty officer. Served with Edward "Teddy" Evans on HMS Talbot[1].
At age 30, he was selected by Teddy Evans to join the Terra Nova Expedition to Antarctica. He joined the Terra Nova from HMS Repulse. A member or the second supporting group, composed of Edward L. Atkinson, Charles S. Wright, Apsley Cherry-Garrard and Keohane himself [2]. They were the first to turn back from the struggle toward the pole, at 87° 32’ South on December 22, 1911. On their journey back to Cape Evans, Keohane fell down crevasses to the full length of his harness eight times in twenty five minutes. According to Cherry-Garrard, Keohane “looked a bit dazed” after that ordeal [3]. They successfully reached Hut Point on January 26, 1912.
On March 27, 1912, Keohane, along with Atkinson, attempted to find Scott and his polar party and bring them back to Cape Evans from the One Ton supply depot. Starting at Hut Point, the party only made it to a point eight miles south of Corner Camp [4]. There they left a weeks provisions and returned to Cape Evans on April 1.
On October 29, 1912, after spending the winter on the continent, Keohane was among a party that went to search for Scott’s group. On November 12, they found the frozen bodies of Scott, Edward Adrian Wilson, and Henry Robertson Bowers eleven miles south of the One Ton supply depot.
The party sailed on the Terra Nova from Cape Evans for the last time on January 22, 1913. The ship arrived in Wales on June 14, 1913.
After his return, Keohane joined the Coast Guard service. He served as the district officer of coastguards for the Isle of Man.
He later rejoined the Royal Navy and served in World War II.
He died in Plymouth, England in 1950 at the age of 71.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Scott, Robert Falcon (2006). Robert Falcon Scott Journal's: Captain Scott's Last Expedition. Oxford England: Oxford World's Classics, Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-929752-5.
- ^ Rosove, Michael H. (2000). Let Heroes Speak. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-967-0.
- ^ Cherry-Garrard, Apsley (2006). The Worst Journey in the World. New York, NY: Penguin Classics. ISBN 0143039385.
- ^ Huxley, Elspeth (1978). Scott of the Antarctic. West Hanover and Plympton, Massachusetts: Halliday Lithograph Corporation. ISBN 0-689-10861-3.
