04-07-2025
A Dundalk woman is heading to the Arctic Circle to retrace the steps of Ireland's forgotten explorer
A SCIENCE COMMUNICATOR from Co Louth will tomorrow head off on an expedition to the Arctic Circle to retrace the steps of one of Ireland's overlooked explorers.
Dr Niamh Shaw plans to retrace the steps of and research Dundalk man Leopold McClintock.
McClintock, also known as Ireland's 'Arctic Fox', was born in Dundalk in 1819. He achieved fame as an Arctic explorer who discovered the fate of the failed 1845 expedition to the North American Arctic led by Sir John Franklin.
McClintock's expedition discovered the only written record left behind by Franklin's team and was hailed as having solved the mystery of what had become of the veteran explorer.
Despite this, he remains relatively unknown in comparison to other Irish explorers, such as Ernest Shackleton.
Leopold McClintock, 1819 - 1907
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Dr Niamh Shaw is to bring his story to life after her retracing of his journey in the Arctic Circle. In partnership with Louth County Council's Environment Office, Shaw will use her research and discoveries while on the expedition to develop an interactive walk in Louth to commemorate McClintock and his explorative achievements.
The 16 day expedition kicks off on 7 July.
Shaw, who has previously worked as an actor, a writer, an engineer and a performer, told
The Journal
that she has always had an interest in exploration and explorers.
In school, she said, 'the only part of history that I loved was when we did the explorers: Vasco de Game, Pizarro – and the Antarctic was fascinating to me. Ernest Shackleton was kind of a science communicator who made the Antarctic really accessible, and he brought back stories.
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'I really got into it again around the 2000s and I just picked up loads of books about it. And I found this book about Leopold McClintock, started reading it, and realised he was from Dundalk, my hometown.'
In the last five years in Dundalk there's been an art revival, Shaw said, leading to the commissioning and the painting of a mural of McClintock beside the town hall.
In 2022, she applied to join the residency programme that sends a number of artists and communicators to the Arctic Circle each year, and in 2023 got a place, although she was unable to attend due to being in the Antarctic at that time.
This year, however, she's looking forward to making the journey and bringing back her findings.
Shaw is bringing with her a collection of postcards from locals which will be stamped in Svalbard Archipelago and brought back to Louth with her. She hopes to have the postcards serve as a 'passport' of sorts that tracks her future travels and allows this supporting her at home to feel involved in her journeys.
The 'Forgotten Women' quilt.
She will also be honouring Irish women of science whose stories have been forgotten by bringing the 'Forgotten Women' Quilt with her. The quilt has 12 panels commemorating Irish women in science. A Dundalk flag designed by the media department at Dundalk IT will also join her in the Arctic Circle.
'I'm going to be taking video footage and finding old footage from 100 years ago to show the difference in the size of glaciers, to show how much melt there has been up there,' Shaw said.
As part of the interactive walk that will be set up by mid-October on her return, there will be a focus on the landmarks that relate to McClintock, 'but also some of the lovely nature parts'. QR codes set up along the walk will enable visitors to view some of Shaw's footage from the Arctic and other findings.
Of McClintock, Shaw said that she hopes her work will draw more attention to his life and achievements. 'Everyone knows about [Ernest] Shackleton,' she said, 'but [McClintock] is largely unknown in Ireland. So I felt, 'Well, this guy's story needs to be told'.
'There's a mini exhibition about him in Dundalk County Museum, but I kind of wanted to make him more nationally known.'
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