Central Bank to mark Polar Year with two coins for Shackleton and Crean

A COMMEMORATIVE set of coins marking Irish Antarctic explorers Earnest Shackleton and Tom Crean are being issued.

As part of celebrations for International Polar Year, a €5 silver proof coin and a €100 gold proof coin are being offered to collectors.

Designed by renowned Irish artist and medallist Thomas Ryan, they feature Crean and Shackleton and their stricken vessel The Endurance trapped in the packed ice of Antarctica.

“In keeping with tradition, the national side of the coin depicts the 14-string Irish harp modelled on the Brian Boru harp in Trinity College,” a spokeswoman for the Central Bank said.

“As an addition to the national side of the coin, a laurel wreath, a traditional symbol of excellence and integrity, surrounds the harp.”

One of the coins, known as a half troy, is made of gold and weighs 15.5 grams and is the first time the Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland have issued this size of coin.

They are available individually in sterling silver for €50 and fine gold costing €395 or as a special two-coin set at €440.

A limited edition of 5,000 silver coins and 2,000 gold coins will be issued and there will also be 1,000 two-coin sets.

Henry Shackleton was born in Kilkea, near Athy, Co Kildare. He was a member of four Antarctic expeditions, three of which he led. In the Nimrod expedition, 1907–09, he established a record furthest south latitude at 97 nautical miles, from the South Pole.

Shackleton is most noteworthy for leading the Endurance expedition featured on the coins, from 1914 and 1916. Though he failed to achieve his goal of crossing the Antarctic continent on foot, he demonstrated the qualities of leadership for which he is best remembered when the expedition ship Endurance was trapped in the ice and was destroyed.

Shackleton led his men to refuge on Elephant Island before heading across 1,300km of the Southern Ocean to south Georgia, in an open boat with five other men. On reaching the remote island, Shackleton, Crean and Frank Worsley crossed severe, mountainous terrain to reach a whaling station, from which he was able eventually to rescue his men on Elephant Island.

Tom Crean from Anascaul, Co Kerry was on three of the four major British expeditions to Antarctica.

After the Discovery Expedition he joined Captain Scott on the 1911–1913 Terra Nova Expedition, in which the race to reach the South Pole was lost to Roald Amundsen, followed by the deaths of Scott and his polar party. During this expedition Crean’s 56km solo walk across the Ross Ice Shelf to save the life of Edward Evans led to the award of the Albert Medal.