[1] He was brought up in Lower Cove, a small settlement on the east side of the mouth of the River Bandon, about 4 km (2.5 miles) south-east of Kinsale.

[1] In 1910, McCarthy volunteered to join the British Antarctic Expedition under Captain Robert Falcon Scott.

[2] He served on the crew on Scott's failed 1912-13 Terra Nova Expedition which attempted to reach the South Pole.

[1] For his service with this expedition he received the Silver Polar Medal from King George V at a Buckingham Palace investiture.

[5] McCarthy's brother, Tim, was also a sailor and polar explorer, and in September 2000 joint statues of the two of them were unveiled in their home town of Kinsale.