[1] Expedition commander Ernest Shackleton was impressed by McCarthy's skill during the survival journey from the northern Weddell Sea to Elephant Island, and so when the expedition leader decided to relaunch the best lifeboat into the open Southern Ocean, with the goal of contacting potential rescuers in South Georgia, McCarthy was one of the five men he chose to accompany him.

[1] When the James Caird, in a sinking condition, made landfall on South Georgia's uncharted southern coast, two of the six men of the company were physically unfit for further service.

Shackleton and his men turned over the boat and made it into a primitive shore shelter, which they called Peggotty Camp.

Three of the men—Tom Crean, Worsley, and Shackleton himself—crossed the icy island to finalise the rescue, while the other three, the ageing carpenter Henry McNish and incapacitated seaman John Vincent, briefly remained at the camp under McCarthy's informal leadership.

A joint bust of Tim McCarthy and his brother Morty, also an Antarctic explorer, was unveiled in Kinsale in September 2000.