McCarthy, Patricio (1897-1940), merchant seaman, was born in Balcarce, Buenos Aires province, the son of John McCarthy (b.1860) and Mary Callaghan (b.1859), and brother of Timoteo McCarthy (b.1895).

John and Mary McCarthy were dairy farmers, originally from Ballyclough in Mallow, Co. Cork. They emigrated from Queenstown (Cobh) to Argentina onboard the steamer City of Dresden, arriving in Buenos Aires on 16 February 1889. At the early age of eight, Patricio McCarthy was brought to Ireland together with his brother Timoteo, and ended up in the Sacred Heart Home, Drumcondra, run by the Sisters of Charity. In 1906 the McCarthy brothers were sponsored by the St. Vincent De Paul Society and sent on to St. Vincent's Orphanage, Glasnevin, in Dublin. Spanish was their spoken language at the time.

Both brothers went to sea, training in the catering departments of various shipping lines. Patricio McCarthy served on the Irish registered fishery protection vessel Fort Rannoch before he lost his life on the steam trawler Leukos on 9 March 1940. Timoteo served in Irish shipping throughout the War World II. He was also a great friend of Captain Carlsen of the Flying Enterprise, and died at sea in August 1960, being buried in the Catholic Cemetery, Cimitero Latino, Rue De Port Said, in Alexandria, Egypt. Patricio McCarthy was the only Argentine citizen lost on an Irish registered vessel during World War II. (Peter Mulvany 2004)

Edmundo Murray

References

- Coghlan, Eduardo A., El Aporte de los Irlandeses a la Formación de la Nación Argentina (Buenos Aires, 1982), pp. 369-370.
- Mulvany, Peter, Irish Seamen's Relatives Association (www.irishseamensrelativesassociation.org), accessed 14 January 2004.