Tom Crean
Encyclopedia
Thomas Crean also known as the "Irish Giant", born on (20 July 1877 – 27 July 1938) was an Irish seaman and Antarctic
explorer from County Kerry
. He was a member of three of the four major British expeditions to Antarctica during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration
, including Robert Falcon Scott
's 1911–13 Terra Nova Expedition
, which saw the race to reach the South Pole lost to Roald Amundsen
and ended in the deaths of Scott and his polar party. During this expedition Crean's 35 smi solo walk across the Ross Ice Shelf
to save the life of Edward Evans led to him receiving the Albert Medal
.
Crean had left the family farm near Annascaul
to enlist in the British Royal Navy
at the age of 15. In 1901, while serving on HMS Ringarooma in New Zealand, he volunteered to join Scott's 1901–04 British National Antarctic Expedition
on Discovery
, thus beginning his exploring career. After his return with the Terra Nova, Crean's third and final Antarctic venture was the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition
on Endurance
led by Ernest Shackleton
, in which he served as Second Officer. After Endurance became beset in the pack ice and sank, he was a participant in a dramatic series of events including months spent drifting on the ice, a journey in lifeboats to Elephant Island, and an open boat journey of 800 nautical miles (1,481.6 km) from Elephant Island to South Georgia. Upon reaching South Georgia, Crean was one of the party of three which undertook the first land crossing of the island, without maps or proper mountaineering equipment, to get aid.
Crean's contributions to these expeditions sealed his reputation as a tough and dependable polar traveller, and earned him a total of three Polar Medal
s. After the Endurance expedition he returned to the Navy, and when his naval career ended in 1920 he moved back to County Kerry. In his home town of Annascaul, Crean and his wife Ellen opened a public house
called the "South Pole Inn". He lived there quietly and unobtrusively until his death in 1938.
is recorded in Royal Navy records on 10 July 1893, 10 days before his 16th birthday; lacking his parents' consent, he probably had to lie about his age to get in.
Crean's initial naval apprenticeship was aboard the training ship HMS Impregnable
at Devonport
. In November 1894 he was transferred to HMS Devastation
. By his 18th birthday in 1895 Crean was serving on HMS Royal Arthur
, and rated
Ordinary Seaman
. Less than a year later he was on HMS Wild Swan as an Able Seaman
, and later joined the Navy's torpedo school ship, HMS Defiance
. By 1899, Crean had advanced to the rate of Petty Officer, 2nd Class
and was serving on HMS Vivid.
In February 1900 Crean was posted to the torpedo vessel HMS Ringarooma, which was part of the Royal Navy's New Zealand Squadron based in the South Island. On 18 December 1901 he was disrated from Petty Officer to Able Seaman for an unspecified misdemeanour. In December 1901 the Ringarooma was ordered to assist Robert Falcon Scott's ship Discovery when it was docked at Lyttelton Harbour
before embarking on the British National Antarctic Expedition to Antarctica. When an Able Seaman on Scott's ship deserted after striking a Petty Officer a replacement was required; Crean volunteered, and was accepted.
Discovery sailed for the Antarctic on 21 December 1901, and seven weeks later, on 8 February 1902, arrived in McMurdo Sound, where she anchored at a spot which was designated "Hut Point". Here the men established the base from which they would launch scientific and exploratory sledging journeys. Crean proved to be one of the most consistent man-haulers
in the party; over the expedition as a whole only seven of the 48-member party logged more time in harness than Crean's 149 days. Crean had a good sense of humour and was well liked by his companions. Scott's second-in-command, Albert Armitage
, wrote in his book Two Years in the Antarctic that "Crean was an Irishman with a fund of wit and an even temper which nothing disturbed." It was at this time that he formed close friendships with William Lashly
and Edgar Evans
: all three would establish themselves as seasoned polar explorers over the next decade.
Crean accompanied Lieutenant Michael Barne
on three sledging trips across the Ross Ice Shelf, then known as the "Great Ice Barrier". These included the 12-man party led by Barne which set out on 30 October 1902 to lay depots in support of the main southern journey undertaken by Scott, Shackleton and Edward Wilson
. On 11 November the Barne party passed the previous furthest south
mark, set by Carsten Borchgrevink in 1900 at 78°50'S, a record which they held briefly until the southern party itself passed it on its way to an eventual 82°17'S.
During the Antarctic winter of 1902 Discovery became locked in the ice. Efforts to free her during the summer of 1902–03 failed, and although some of the expedition's members (including Ernest Shackleton) left in a relief ship, Crean and the majority of the party remained in the Antarctic until the ship was finally freed in February 1904. After returning to civilization, Crean was promoted to Petty Officer 1st Class, on Scott's recommendation.
. Crean had caught Captain Scott's attention with his attitude and work ethic on the Discovery Expedition, and in 1906 Scott requested that Crean join him on HMS Victorious
. Over the next few years Crean followed Scott successively to HMS Albemarle
, HMS Essex
and HMS Bulwark
. By 1907 Scott was planning his second expedition to the Antarctic. Meanwhile Ernest Shackleton's British Antarctic Expedition, 1907–09
, despite reaching a new furthest south record of 88°23'S, had failed to reach the South Pole. Scott was with Crean when the news of Shackleton's near miss became public; it is recorded that Scott observed to Crean: "I think we'd better have a shot next."
Scott held Crean in high regard, so he was among the first people Scott recruited when planning the Terra Nova Expedition. Crean was one of the few men in the party with polar experience. His first major contribution to the expedition was as part of the 13-man party who laid "One Ton Depot" 130 smi from Hut Point, the depot being named because of the large amount of food and equipment cached there. On the return trip to the expedition's base at Cape Evans
Crean, with Apsley Cherry-Garrard
and Lieutenant Henry "Birdie" Bowers, experienced near-disaster when they camped on unstable sea ice. During the night the ice broke up, leaving the men adrift on an ice floe and separated from their sledges. Crean probably saved the men's lives by leaping from floe to floe until he reached the Barrier edge and was able to get help.
Crean was one of the large group that departed with Scott in November 1911 for the attempt at the South Pole
. This journey had three stages: 400 smi across the Barrier, 120 smi up the heavily crevassed Beardmore Glacier
to an altitude of 10000 feet (3,048 m) above sea level, and then another 350 smi to the Pole. Crean and William Lashly, along with Lieutenant Edward Evans
, formed the final support party which accompanied Scott and his team to 87°32'S, 168 smi from the Pole. Here, on 4 January 1912, Crean's party was ordered to return to base while Scott, Edgar Evans, Wilson, Bowers and Lawrence Oates
continued towards the Pole. Crean's biographer Michael Smith suggests that Crean should have been selected for the polar party in the place of Edgar Evans, who was weakened by a recent hand injury (of which Scott was unaware). Crean, considered one of the toughest men in the expedition, had led a pony across the Barrier and had thus been saved much of the hard labour of man-hauling. Scott's critic and biographer Roland Huntford
records that the surgeon Edward L Atkinson, who had accompanied the southern party to the top of the Beardmore, had recommended either Lashly or Crean for the polar party rather than Edgar Evans. After two months of effort to reach this point, Crean apparently wept at the prospect of having to turn back so close to the goal.
Crean, Lashly and Evans now faced a 700 smi journey back to Hut Point. Soon after heading north, the party lost the trail back to the Beardmore Glacier, and were faced with a long detour around a large icefall
where the plateau tumbles down onto the glacier. With food supplies short and needing to reach their next supply depot, the group made the decision to slide on their sledge, uncontrolled, down the icefall. The three men slid 2000 feet (609.6 m), dodging crevasses up to 200 feet (61 m) wide, and ending their descent by overturning on an ice ridge. Evans later wrote: "How we ever escaped entirely uninjured is beyond me to explain".
The gamble at the icefall paid off, and the men reached their depot two days later. However, they had great difficulty navigating down the glacier. Lashly wrote: "I cannot describe the maze we got into and the hairbreadth escapes we have had to pass through." In his attempts to find the way down, Evans removed his goggles and subsequently suffered agonies of snow blindness
that made him into a passenger. When the party was finally free of the glacier and on the level surface of the Barrier, Evans began to display the first symptoms of scurvy
. By early February he was in great pain, his joints were swollen and discoloured, and he was passing blood. Through the efforts of Crean and Lashly the group struggled towards One Ton Depot, which they reached on 11 February. At this point Evans collapsed; Crean thought he had died and, according to Evans's account, "his hot tears fell on my face". With well over 100 smi to travel before the safety of Hut Point, Crean and Lashly began hauling Evans on the sledge, "eking out his life with the last few drops of brandy that they still had with them". On 18 February they arrived at Corner Camp, still 35 smi from Hut Point, with food running low. With only one or two days' food rations left, but still four or five days' man-hauling to do, they decided that Crean should go on alone to fetch help. With only a little chocolate and three biscuits to sustain him, without a tent or survival equipment, Crean walked the distance to Hut Point in 18 hours, arriving in a state of collapse. He reached safety just ahead of a fierce blizzard, which probably would have killed him, and which delayed the rescue party by a day and a half. The rescue was successful, however, and Lashly and Evans were both brought to base camp alive. Crean modestly played down the significance of his feat of endurance. In a rare written account, he wrote in a letter: "So it fell to my lot to do the 30 miles for help, and only a couple of biscuits and a stick of chocolate to do it. Well, sir, I was very weak when I reached the hut."
Scott's party failed to return. The winter of 1912 at Cape Evans was a sombre one, with the knowledge that the polar party had undoubtedly perished. Frank Debenham
wrote that "in the winter it was once again Crean who was the mainstay for cheerfulness in the now depleted mess deck part of the hut." In November 1912, Crean was one of the 11-man search party that found the remains of the polar party. On 12 November they spotted a cairn of snow, which proved to be a tent against which the drift had piled up. It contained the bodies of Scott, Wilson, and Bowers. Crean later wrote, referring to Scott in understated fashion, that he had "lost a good friend".
On 12 February 1913 Crean and the remaining crew of the Terra Nova
arrived in Lyttelton, New Zealand
, and shortly after returned to England. At Buckingham Palace
the surviving members of the expedition were awarded Polar Medals by King George
and Prince Louis of Battenberg, the First Sea Lord
. Crean and Lashly were both awarded the Albert Medal, 2nd Class for saving Evans's life, these were presented by the King at Buckingham Palace on 26 July 1913. Crean was promoted to the rank of Chief Petty Officer
, retroactive to 9 September 1910.
Ernest Shackleton knew Crean well from the Discovery Expedition and also knew of his feats on Scott's last expedition. Like Scott, Shackleton deeply trusted Crean: he was worth, in Shackleton's own word, "trumps". Crean joined Shackleton's Imperial Transantarctic Expedition on 25 May 1914, as second officer, with a varied range of duties. In the absence of a Canadian dog-handling expert who was hired but never appeared, Crean took charge of one of the dog-handling teams, and was later involved in the care and nurture of the pups born to one of his dogs, Sally, early in the expedition.
On 19 January 1915 the expedition's ship, the Endurance, was beset in the Weddell Sea
pack ice. In the early efforts to free her, Crean narrowly escaped being crushed by a sudden movement in the ice. The ship drifted in the ice for months, eventually sinking on 21 November. Shackleton informed the men that they would drag the food, gear, and three lifeboats across the pack ice to Snow Hill or Robertson Island
, 200 smi away. Because of uneven ice conditions, pressure ridges, and the danger of ice breakup which could separate the men, they soon abandoned this plan: the men pitched camp and decided to wait. They hoped that the clockwise drift of the pack would carry them 400 smi to Paulet Island
where they knew there was a hut with emergency supplies. But the pack ice held firm as it carried the men well past Paulet Island, and did not break up until 9 April. The crew then had to sail and row the three ill-equipped lifeboats through the pack ice to Elephant Island, a trip which lasted five days. Crean and Hubert Hudson, the navigating officer of the Endurance, piloted their lifeboat with Crean effectively in charge as Hudson appeared to have suffered a breakdown.
On reaching Elephant Island, Crean was one of the "four fittest men" detailed by Shackleton to find a safe camping-ground. Shackleton decided that, rather than waiting for a rescue ship that would probably never arrive, one of the lifeboats should be strengthened so that a crew could sail it to South Georgia
and arrange a rescue. After the party was settled on a penguin rookery
above the high-water mark, a group of men led by ship's carpenter Harry McNish
began modifying one of the lifeboats—the James Caird
—in preparation for this journey, which Shackleton would lead. Frank Wild
, who would be in command of the party remaining on Elephant Island, wanted the dependable Crean to stay with him; Shackleton initially agreed, but changed his mind after Crean begged to be included in the boat's crew of six. The 800 nautical miles (1,481.6 km) boat journey to South Georgia, described by polar historian Caroline Alexander as one of the most extraordinary feats of seamanship and navigation in recorded history, took 17 days through gales and snow squalls, in heavy seas which navigator Frank Worsley
described as a "mountainous westerly swell". Setting off on 24 April 1916, thanks to the navigational skills of Worsley, armed with just the barest equipment, they reached South Georgia on 10 May 1916. Shackleton, in his later account of the journey, recalled Crean's tuneless singing at the tiller: "He always sang when he was steering, and nobody ever discovered what the song was ... but somehow it was cheerful".
They made their South Georgia landfall on the uninhabited southern coast, having decided that the risk of aiming directly for the whaling
stations on the north side was too great; if they missed the island to the north they would be swept out into the Atlantic Ocean. The original plan was to work the James Caird around the coast, but the boat's rudder had broken off after their initial landing, and some of the party were, in Shackleton's view, unfit for further travel. The three fittest men—Shackleton, Crean, and Worsley—were therefore required to trek 30 smi across the island's glaciated
surface, in a hazardous 36-hour journey to the nearest manned whaling station. This trek was the first recorded crossing of the mountainous island, completed without tents, sleeping bags, or map—their only mountaineering equipment was a carpenter's adze
, a length of alpine rope, and screws from the James Caird hammered through their boots to serve as crampons
. They arrived at the whaling station at Stromness
, tired and dirty, hair long and matted, faces blackened by months of cooking by blubber stoves—"the world's dirtiest men", according to Worsley. They quickly organized a boat to pick up the three on the other side of South Georgia, but thereafter it took Shackleton three months and four attempts by ship to rescue the other 22 men still on Elephant Island.
After returning to Britain in November 1916, Crean resumed naval duties. On 15 December 1916 he was promoted to the rank of Warrant Officer
(as a Boatswain
), in recognition of his service on the Endurance, and was awarded his third Polar Medal. On 5 September 1917 Crean married Ellen Herlihy of Annascaul. For the remainder of the First World War he served first at the Chatham barracks, and then on HMS Colleen.
In early 1920, Shackleton was organising another Antarctic expedition, later to be known as the Shackleton-Rowett Expedition
. He invited Crean to join him, along with other officers from the Endurance. By this time, however, Crean was married, his second daughter had arrived, and he had plans to open a business following his naval career. He turned down Shackleton's invitation.
On his last naval assignment, with HMS Hecla
, Crean suffered a bad fall which caused lasting effects to his vision. As a result, he was retired on medical grounds on 24 March 1920. He and Ellen opened a small public house in Annascaul, which he called the South Pole Inn. The couple had three daughters, Mary, Kate, and Eileen, although Kate died when she was four years old.
Throughout his life, Crean remained an extremely modest man. When he returned to Kerry, he put all of his medals away and never again spoke about his experiences in the Antarctic. Indeed, there is no reliable evidence of Crean giving any interviews to the press. It has been speculated that this may have been because Kerry had long been a centre for Irish Republicanism
, and it would have been inappropriate for an Irishman to speak of his achievements on British polar expeditions. In fact, Crean and his family were once the victims of a Black and Tan (British paramilitary) raid during the War of Independence. The raiders ransacked his property and the Creans felt threatened until the Black and Tans happened across a framed photo of Crean in Royal Navy dress uniform and medals. They then left his inn
In 1938 Crean became ill with a burst appendix. He was taken to the nearest hospital in Tralee, but as no surgeon was available there to operate, he was transferred to the Bons Secours Hospital in Cork
where his appendix was removed. Because the operation had been delayed, an infection developed, and after a week in the hospital he died on 27 July 1938, shortly after his sixty-first birthday. He was buried in his family's tomb at the cemetery in Ballynacourty.
Crean is commemorated in at least two place names: Mount Crean
8630 feet (2,630.4 m) in Victoria Land
, and the Crean Glacier
on South Georgia. A one-man play, Tom Crean – Antarctic Explorer
, has been widely performed since 2001 by its author Aidan Dooley, including a special showing at the South Pole Inn, Annascaul, in October 2001. Present were Crean's daughters, Eileen and Mary, both in their 80s. Apparently he never told them his stories; according to Eileen: "He put his medals and his sword in a box ... and that was that. He was a very humble man".
Antarctic
The Antarctic is the region around the Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica and the ice shelves, waters and island territories in the Southern Ocean situated south of the Antarctic Convergence...
explorer from County Kerry
County Kerry
Kerry means the "people of Ciar" which was the name of the pre-Gaelic tribe who lived in part of the present county. The legendary founder of the tribe was Ciar, son of Fergus mac Róich. In Old Irish "Ciar" meant black or dark brown, and the word continues in use in modern Irish as an adjective...
. He was a member of three of the four major British expeditions to Antarctica during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration
Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration
The Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration defines an era which extended from the end of the 19th century to the early 1920s. During this 25-year period the Antarctic continent became the focus of an international effort which resulted in intensive scientific and geographical exploration, sixteen...
, including Robert Falcon Scott
Robert Falcon Scott
Captain Robert Falcon Scott, CVO was a Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery Expedition, 1901–04, and the ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition, 1910–13...
's 1911–13 Terra Nova Expedition
Terra Nova Expedition
The Terra Nova Expedition , officially the British Antarctic Expedition 1910, was led by Robert Falcon Scott with the objective of being the first to reach the geographical South Pole. Scott and four companions attained the pole on 17 January 1912, to find that a Norwegian team led by Roald...
, which saw the race to reach the South Pole lost to Roald Amundsen
Roald Amundsen
Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He led the first Antarctic expedition to reach the South Pole between 1910 and 1912 and he was the first person to reach both the North and South Poles. He is also known as the first to traverse the Northwest Passage....
and ended in the deaths of Scott and his polar party. During this expedition Crean's 35 smi solo walk across the Ross Ice Shelf
Ross Ice Shelf
The Ross Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf of Antarctica . It is several hundred metres thick. The nearly vertical ice front to the open sea is more than 600 km long, and between 15 and 50 metres high above the water surface...
to save the life of Edward Evans led to him receiving the Albert Medal
Albert Medal (lifesaving)
The Albert Medal for Lifesaving was a British medal awarded to recognise the saving of life. It has since been replaced by the George Cross.The Albert Medal was first instituted by a Royal Warrant on 7 March 1866 and discontinued in 1971 with the last two awards promulgated in the London Gazette of...
.
Crean had left the family farm near Annascaul
Annascaul
Annascaul or Anascaul is a village on the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland.Different suggestions as to the original meaning of the name include "Scáil's River" , "River of the Shadows", or "Ford of the Heroes".-Geography:The Dingle Way walking route passes through the...
to enlist in the British Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
at the age of 15. In 1901, while serving on HMS Ringarooma in New Zealand, he volunteered to join Scott's 1901–04 British National Antarctic Expedition
Discovery Expedition
The British National Antarctic Expedition, 1901–04, generally known as the Discovery Expedition, was the first official British exploration of the Antarctic regions since James Clark Ross's voyage sixty years earlier...
on Discovery
RRS Discovery
The RRS Discovery was the last traditional wooden three-masted ship to be built in Britain. Designed for Antarctic research, she was launched in 1901. Her first mission was the British National Antarctic Expedition, carrying Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton on their first, successful...
, thus beginning his exploring career. After his return with the Terra Nova, Crean's third and final Antarctic venture was the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition
Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition
The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition , also known as the Endurance Expedition, is considered the last major expedition of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Conceived by Sir Ernest Shackleton, the expedition was an attempt to make the first land crossing of the Antarctic continent...
on Endurance
Endurance (1912 ship)
The Endurance was the three-masted barquentine in which Sir Ernest Shackleton sailed for the Antarctic on the 1914 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition...
led by Ernest Shackleton
Ernest Shackleton
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, CVO, OBE was a notable explorer from County Kildare, Ireland, who was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration...
, in which he served as Second Officer. After Endurance became beset in the pack ice and sank, he was a participant in a dramatic series of events including months spent drifting on the ice, a journey in lifeboats to Elephant Island, and an open boat journey of 800 nautical miles (1,481.6 km) from Elephant Island to South Georgia. Upon reaching South Georgia, Crean was one of the party of three which undertook the first land crossing of the island, without maps or proper mountaineering equipment, to get aid.
Crean's contributions to these expeditions sealed his reputation as a tough and dependable polar traveller, and earned him a total of three Polar Medal
Polar Medal
The Polar Medal is a medal awarded by the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. It was instituted in 1857 as the Arctic Medal and renamed the Polar Medal in 1904.-History:...
s. After the Endurance expedition he returned to the Navy, and when his naval career ended in 1920 he moved back to County Kerry. In his home town of Annascaul, Crean and his wife Ellen opened a public house
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
called the "South Pole Inn". He lived there quietly and unobtrusively until his death in 1938.
Early life and career
Thomas Crean (generally known as Tom Crean) was born 20 July 1877, in the farming area of Gurtuchrane near the town of Annascaul in County Kerry, to Patrick Crean and Catherine Courtney. One of ten children, he attended the local Brackluin Roman Catholic school, leaving at the age of 12 to lend much-needed help on the family farm. At the age of 15, Crean enlisted in the Royal Navy at the naval station in nearby Minard Inlet, possibly after an argument with his father. His enlistment as a Boy 2nd ClassBoy Seaman
A boy seaman is a boy who serves as seaman and/or is trained for such service.-Royal Navy:In the British naval forces, where there was a need to recruit enough hands to man the vast fleet of the British Empire, extensive regulations existed concerning the selection and status of boys enlisted to...
is recorded in Royal Navy records on 10 July 1893, 10 days before his 16th birthday; lacking his parents' consent, he probably had to lie about his age to get in.
Crean's initial naval apprenticeship was aboard the training ship HMS Impregnable
HMS Howe (1860)
HMS Howe was built as a 121-gun screw first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She and her sister HMS Victoria were the first and only British three-decker ships of the line to be designed from the start for screw propulsion, but the Howe was never completed for sea service as she had...
at Devonport
HMNB Devonport
Her Majesty's Naval Base Devonport , is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy . HMNB Devonport is located in Devonport, in the west of the city of Plymouth in Devon, England...
. In November 1894 he was transferred to HMS Devastation
HMS Devastation (1871)
HMS Devastation was the first of two Devastation-class mastless turret ships built for the British Royal Navy. This was the first class of ocean-going capital ship that did not carry sails, and the first whose entire main armament was mounted on top of the hull rather than inside it...
. By his 18th birthday in 1895 Crean was serving on HMS Royal Arthur
HMS Royal Arthur (1891)
HMS Royal Arthur was a first class cruiser of the Edgar class, previously named Centaur, but renamed in 1890 prior to launching. Royal Arthur, and her sister ship Crescent, were built to a slightly modified design and are sometimes considered a separate class...
, and rated
Naval rating
A Naval Rating is an enlisted member of a country's Navy, subordinate to Warrant Officers and Officers hence not conferred by commission or warrant...
Ordinary Seaman
Ordinary Seaman (occupation)
An ordinary seaman is an unlicensed member of the deck department of a merchant ship. The position is an apprenticeship to become an able seaman, and has been for centuries...
. Less than a year later he was on HMS Wild Swan as an Able Seaman
Able Seaman (occupation)
An able seaman is an unlicensed member of the deck department of a merchant ship. An AB may work as a watchstander, a day worker, or a combination of these roles.-Watchstander:...
, and later joined the Navy's torpedo school ship, HMS Defiance
HMS Defiance (1861)
HMS Defiance was the last wooden line-of-battle ship launched for the Royal Navy. She never saw service as a wooden line-of-battle ship. In 1884 she became a schoolship.- Design :...
. By 1899, Crean had advanced to the rate of Petty Officer, 2nd Class
Petty Officer
A petty officer is a non-commissioned officer in many navies and is given the NATO rank denotion OR-6. They are equal in rank to sergeant, British Army and Royal Air Force. A Petty Officer is superior in rank to Leading Rate and subordinate to Chief Petty Officer, in the case of the British Armed...
and was serving on HMS Vivid.
In February 1900 Crean was posted to the torpedo vessel HMS Ringarooma, which was part of the Royal Navy's New Zealand Squadron based in the South Island. On 18 December 1901 he was disrated from Petty Officer to Able Seaman for an unspecified misdemeanour. In December 1901 the Ringarooma was ordered to assist Robert Falcon Scott's ship Discovery when it was docked at Lyttelton Harbour
Lyttelton Harbour
Lyttelton Harbour is one of two major inlets in Banks Peninsula, on the coast of Canterbury, New Zealand. The other is Akaroa Harbour.Approximately 15 km in length from its mouth to Teddington, the harbour was formed from a series of ancient volcanic eruptions that created a caldera, the...
before embarking on the British National Antarctic Expedition to Antarctica. When an Able Seaman on Scott's ship deserted after striking a Petty Officer a replacement was required; Crean volunteered, and was accepted.
Discovery Expedition, 1901–1904
Manhauling
Manhauling, often expressed as man-hauling, means the pulling forward of sledges, trucks or other load-carrying vehicles by human power unaided by animals or machines...
in the party; over the expedition as a whole only seven of the 48-member party logged more time in harness than Crean's 149 days. Crean had a good sense of humour and was well liked by his companions. Scott's second-in-command, Albert Armitage
Albert Armitage
Albert Borlase Armitage was a Scottish explorer of Antarctica and captain in the Royal Navy.He was first a member of the Jackson-Harmsworth Expedition exploring Franz Josef Land...
, wrote in his book Two Years in the Antarctic that "Crean was an Irishman with a fund of wit and an even temper which nothing disturbed." It was at this time that he formed close friendships with William Lashly
William Lashly
William Lashly was a Royal Navy seaman who was a member of both of Robert Falcon Scott's Antarctic expeditions.-Early life:The son of a farm worker, Lashly was born in Hambledon, Hampshire, a village near Portsmouth, England...
and Edgar Evans
Edgar Evans
Petty Officer Edgar Evans was a member of the Polar Party on Robert Falcon Scott's companions on his ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition to the South Pole in 1911–1912...
: all three would establish themselves as seasoned polar explorers over the next decade.
Crean accompanied Lieutenant Michael Barne
Michael Barne
Michael Barne was an officer of the 1901-04 Discovery Expedition and was the last survivor of the expedition.-Early life:...
on three sledging trips across the Ross Ice Shelf, then known as the "Great Ice Barrier". These included the 12-man party led by Barne which set out on 30 October 1902 to lay depots in support of the main southern journey undertaken by Scott, Shackleton and Edward Wilson
Edward Adrian Wilson
Edward Adrian Wilson was a notable English polar explorer, physician, naturalist, painter and ornithologist.-Early life:...
. On 11 November the Barne party passed the previous furthest south
Farthest South
Farthest South was the term used to denote the most southerly latitudes reached by explorers before the conquest of the South Pole in 1911. Significant steps on the road to the pole were the discovery of lands south of Cape Horn in 1619, Captain James Cook's crossing of the Antarctic Circle in...
mark, set by Carsten Borchgrevink in 1900 at 78°50'S, a record which they held briefly until the southern party itself passed it on its way to an eventual 82°17'S.
During the Antarctic winter of 1902 Discovery became locked in the ice. Efforts to free her during the summer of 1902–03 failed, and although some of the expedition's members (including Ernest Shackleton) left in a relief ship, Crean and the majority of the party remained in the Antarctic until the ship was finally freed in February 1904. After returning to civilization, Crean was promoted to Petty Officer 1st Class, on Scott's recommendation.
After the Discovery Expedition, 1905–10
Crean came back to regular duty at the naval base at Chatham, Kent, serving first on HMS Pembroke in 1904 and later transferring to the torpedo school on HMS VernonHMS Vernon (shore establishment)
HMS Vernon was a shore establishment or 'stone frigate' of the Royal Navy. Vernon was established on 26 April 1876 as the Royal Navy's Torpedo Branch and operated until 1 April 1996, when the various elements comprising the establishment were split up and moved to different commands.-Foundation...
. Crean had caught Captain Scott's attention with his attitude and work ethic on the Discovery Expedition, and in 1906 Scott requested that Crean join him on HMS Victorious
HMS Victorious (1895)
HMS Victorious was one of nine Majestic-class predreadnought battleships of the British Royal Navy.-Technical characteristics:HMS Victorious was laid down at Chatham Dockyard on 28 May 1894 and launched on 19 October 1895...
. Over the next few years Crean followed Scott successively to HMS Albemarle
HMS Albemarle (1901)
HMS Albemarle was a pre-Dreadnought Duncan-class battleship of the Royal Navy, named after George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle.-Technical Description:...
, HMS Essex
HMS Essex (1901)
HMS Essex was a Monmouth-class armoured cruiser of the British Royal Navy. She was built at Pembroke Dock and launched on 29 August 1901. She served in the First World War with most of her sisters, and survived to be sold for scrap on 8 November 1921. Essex was eventually broken up in Germany....
and HMS Bulwark
HMS Bulwark (1899)
HMS Bulwark belonged to a sub-class of the Formidable-class of pre-dreadnought battleships of the Royal Navy known as the London-class.-Technical description:...
. By 1907 Scott was planning his second expedition to the Antarctic. Meanwhile Ernest Shackleton's British Antarctic Expedition, 1907–09
Nimrod Expedition
The British Antarctic Expedition 1907–09, otherwise known as the Nimrod Expedition, was the first of three expeditions to the Antarctic led by Ernest Shackleton. Its main target, among a range of geographical and scientific objectives, was to be first to the South Pole...
, despite reaching a new furthest south record of 88°23'S, had failed to reach the South Pole. Scott was with Crean when the news of Shackleton's near miss became public; it is recorded that Scott observed to Crean: "I think we'd better have a shot next."
Terra Nova Expedition, 1910–13
Cape Evans
Cape Evans is a rocky cape on the west side of Ross Island, forming the north side of the entrance to Erebus Bay.The cape was discovered by the Discovery expedition under Robert Falcon Scott, who named it the Skuary. Scott's second expedition, the British Antarctic Expedition , built its...
Crean, with Apsley Cherry-Garrard
Apsley Cherry-Garrard
Apsley George Benet Cherry-Garrard was an English explorer of Antarctica. He was a survivor of the Terra Nova Expedition and is acclaimed for his historical account of this expedition, The Worst Journey in the World....
and Lieutenant Henry "Birdie" Bowers, experienced near-disaster when they camped on unstable sea ice. During the night the ice broke up, leaving the men adrift on an ice floe and separated from their sledges. Crean probably saved the men's lives by leaping from floe to floe until he reached the Barrier edge and was able to get help.
Crean was one of the large group that departed with Scott in November 1911 for the attempt at the South Pole
South Pole
The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is one of the two points where the Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on the surface of the Earth and lies on the opposite side of the Earth from the North Pole...
. This journey had three stages: 400 smi across the Barrier, 120 smi up the heavily crevassed Beardmore Glacier
Beardmore Glacier
The Beardmore Glacier in Antarctica is one of the largest glaciers in the world, with a length exceeding 160 km . The glacier is one of the main passages from the Ross Ice Shelf through the Queen Alexandra and Commonwealth ranges of the Transantarctic Mountains to the Antarctic Plateau, and was one...
to an altitude of 10000 feet (3,048 m) above sea level, and then another 350 smi to the Pole. Crean and William Lashly, along with Lieutenant Edward Evans
Edward Evans, 1st Baron Mountevans
Admiral Edward Ratcliffe Garth Russell Evans, 1st Baron Mountevans, KCB, DSO , known as "Teddy" Evans, was a British naval officer and Antarctic explorer...
, formed the final support party which accompanied Scott and his team to 87°32'S, 168 smi from the Pole. Here, on 4 January 1912, Crean's party was ordered to return to base while Scott, Edgar Evans, Wilson, Bowers and Lawrence Oates
Lawrence Oates
Captain Lawrence Edward Grace Oates was an English Antarctic explorer, known for the manner of his death, when he walked from a tent into a blizzard, with the words "I am just going outside and may be some time"....
continued towards the Pole. Crean's biographer Michael Smith suggests that Crean should have been selected for the polar party in the place of Edgar Evans, who was weakened by a recent hand injury (of which Scott was unaware). Crean, considered one of the toughest men in the expedition, had led a pony across the Barrier and had thus been saved much of the hard labour of man-hauling. Scott's critic and biographer Roland Huntford
Roland Huntford
Roland Huntford is an author, principally of biographies of Polar explorers. He lives in Cambridge, and was formerly Scandinavian correspondent of The Observer, also acting as their winter sports correspondent...
records that the surgeon Edward L Atkinson, who had accompanied the southern party to the top of the Beardmore, had recommended either Lashly or Crean for the polar party rather than Edgar Evans. After two months of effort to reach this point, Crean apparently wept at the prospect of having to turn back so close to the goal.
Icefall
An icefall is a portion of some glaciers characterized by rapid flow and a chaotic crevassed surface. Perhaps the most conspicuous consequence of glacier flow, icefalls occur where the glacier bed steepens and/or narrows...
where the plateau tumbles down onto the glacier. With food supplies short and needing to reach their next supply depot, the group made the decision to slide on their sledge, uncontrolled, down the icefall. The three men slid 2000 feet (609.6 m), dodging crevasses up to 200 feet (61 m) wide, and ending their descent by overturning on an ice ridge. Evans later wrote: "How we ever escaped entirely uninjured is beyond me to explain".
The gamble at the icefall paid off, and the men reached their depot two days later. However, they had great difficulty navigating down the glacier. Lashly wrote: "I cannot describe the maze we got into and the hairbreadth escapes we have had to pass through." In his attempts to find the way down, Evans removed his goggles and subsequently suffered agonies of snow blindness
Snow blindness
Photokeratitis or ultraviolet keratitis is a painful eye condition caused by exposure of insufficiently protected eyes to the ultraviolet rays from either natural or artificial sources. Photokeratitis is akin to a sunburn of the cornea and conjunctiva, and is not usually noticed until several...
that made him into a passenger. When the party was finally free of the glacier and on the level surface of the Barrier, Evans began to display the first symptoms of scurvy
Scurvy
Scurvy is a disease resulting from a deficiency of vitamin C, which is required for the synthesis of collagen in humans. The chemical name for vitamin C, ascorbic acid, is derived from the Latin name of scurvy, scorbutus, which also provides the adjective scorbutic...
. By early February he was in great pain, his joints were swollen and discoloured, and he was passing blood. Through the efforts of Crean and Lashly the group struggled towards One Ton Depot, which they reached on 11 February. At this point Evans collapsed; Crean thought he had died and, according to Evans's account, "his hot tears fell on my face". With well over 100 smi to travel before the safety of Hut Point, Crean and Lashly began hauling Evans on the sledge, "eking out his life with the last few drops of brandy that they still had with them". On 18 February they arrived at Corner Camp, still 35 smi from Hut Point, with food running low. With only one or two days' food rations left, but still four or five days' man-hauling to do, they decided that Crean should go on alone to fetch help. With only a little chocolate and three biscuits to sustain him, without a tent or survival equipment, Crean walked the distance to Hut Point in 18 hours, arriving in a state of collapse. He reached safety just ahead of a fierce blizzard, which probably would have killed him, and which delayed the rescue party by a day and a half. The rescue was successful, however, and Lashly and Evans were both brought to base camp alive. Crean modestly played down the significance of his feat of endurance. In a rare written account, he wrote in a letter: "So it fell to my lot to do the 30 miles for help, and only a couple of biscuits and a stick of chocolate to do it. Well, sir, I was very weak when I reached the hut."
Scott's party failed to return. The winter of 1912 at Cape Evans was a sombre one, with the knowledge that the polar party had undoubtedly perished. Frank Debenham
Frank Debenham
Frank Debenham, OBE was Emeritus Professor of Geography at the Cambridge University and first director of the Scott Polar Research Institute.-Biography:...
wrote that "in the winter it was once again Crean who was the mainstay for cheerfulness in the now depleted mess deck part of the hut." In November 1912, Crean was one of the 11-man search party that found the remains of the polar party. On 12 November they spotted a cairn of snow, which proved to be a tent against which the drift had piled up. It contained the bodies of Scott, Wilson, and Bowers. Crean later wrote, referring to Scott in understated fashion, that he had "lost a good friend".
On 12 February 1913 Crean and the remaining crew of the Terra Nova
Terra Nova (ship)
The Terra Nova was built in 1884 for the Dundee whaling and sealing fleet. She worked for 10 years in the annual seal fishery in the Labrador Sea, proving her worth for many years before she was called upon for expedition work.Terra Nova was ideally suited to the polar regions...
arrived in Lyttelton, New Zealand
Lyttelton, New Zealand
Lyttelton is a port town on the north shore of Lyttelton Harbour close to Banks Peninsula, a suburb of Christchurch on the eastern coast of the South Island of New Zealand....
, and shortly after returned to England. At Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...
the surviving members of the expedition were awarded Polar Medals by King George
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
and Prince Louis of Battenberg, the First Sea Lord
First Sea Lord
The First Sea Lord is the professional head of the Royal Navy and the whole Naval Service; it was formerly known as First Naval Lord. He also holds the title of Chief of Naval Staff, and is known by the abbreviations 1SL/CNS...
. Crean and Lashly were both awarded the Albert Medal, 2nd Class for saving Evans's life, these were presented by the King at Buckingham Palace on 26 July 1913. Crean was promoted to the rank of Chief Petty Officer
Chief Petty Officer
A chief petty officer is a senior non-commissioned officer in many navies and coast guards.-Canada:"Chief Petty Officer" refers to two ranks in the Canadian Navy...
, retroactive to 9 September 1910.
Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (Endurance Expedition), 1914–17
On 19 January 1915 the expedition's ship, the Endurance, was beset in the Weddell Sea
Weddell Sea
The Weddell Sea is part of the Southern Ocean and contains the Weddell Gyre. Its land boundaries are defined by the bay formed from the coasts of Coats Land and the Antarctic Peninsula. The easternmost point is Cape Norvegia at Princess Martha Coast, Queen Maud Land. To the east of Cape Norvegia is...
pack ice. In the early efforts to free her, Crean narrowly escaped being crushed by a sudden movement in the ice. The ship drifted in the ice for months, eventually sinking on 21 November. Shackleton informed the men that they would drag the food, gear, and three lifeboats across the pack ice to Snow Hill or Robertson Island
Robertson Island
Robertson Island is an ice-covered island, long in a northwest-southeast direction and wide, lying at the east end of the Seal Nunataks off the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. Captain Carl Anton Larsen discovered Robertson Island from the Jason on December 9, 1893...
, 200 smi away. Because of uneven ice conditions, pressure ridges, and the danger of ice breakup which could separate the men, they soon abandoned this plan: the men pitched camp and decided to wait. They hoped that the clockwise drift of the pack would carry them 400 smi to Paulet Island
Paulet Island
Paulet Island is a circular island about in diameter, lying southeast of Dundee Island, off the northeastern end of the Antarctic Peninsula. It is composed of lava flows capped by a cinder cone with a small summit crater. Geothermal heat keeps parts of the island ice-free, and the youthful...
where they knew there was a hut with emergency supplies. But the pack ice held firm as it carried the men well past Paulet Island, and did not break up until 9 April. The crew then had to sail and row the three ill-equipped lifeboats through the pack ice to Elephant Island, a trip which lasted five days. Crean and Hubert Hudson, the navigating officer of the Endurance, piloted their lifeboat with Crean effectively in charge as Hudson appeared to have suffered a breakdown.
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is a British overseas territory and overseas territory of the European Union in the southern Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote and inhospitable collection of islands, consisting of South Georgia and a chain of smaller islands, known as the South Sandwich...
and arrange a rescue. After the party was settled on a penguin rookery
Rookery
A rookery is a colony of breeding animals, generally birds. A rook is a Northern European and Central Asian member of the crow family, which nest in prominent colonies at the tops of trees. The term is applied to the nesting place of birds, such as crows and rooks, the source of the term...
above the high-water mark, a group of men led by ship's carpenter Harry McNish
Harry McNish
Harry McNish was the carpenter on Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1917...
began modifying one of the lifeboats—the James Caird
James Caird (boat)
The voyage of the James Caird was an open boat journey from Elephant Island in the South Shetland Islands to South Georgia in the southern Atlantic Ocean, a distance of...
—in preparation for this journey, which Shackleton would lead. Frank Wild
Frank Wild
Commander John Robert Francis Wild CBE, RNVR, FRGS , known as Frank Wild, was an explorer...
, who would be in command of the party remaining on Elephant Island, wanted the dependable Crean to stay with him; Shackleton initially agreed, but changed his mind after Crean begged to be included in the boat's crew of six. The 800 nautical miles (1,481.6 km) boat journey to South Georgia, described by polar historian Caroline Alexander as one of the most extraordinary feats of seamanship and navigation in recorded history, took 17 days through gales and snow squalls, in heavy seas which navigator Frank Worsley
Frank Worsley
Frank Arthur Worsley DSO and Bar, OBE, RD was a New Zealand sailor and explorer.After serving in the Pacific, and especially in the New Zealand Post Office's South Pacific service he joined Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of...
described as a "mountainous westerly swell". Setting off on 24 April 1916, thanks to the navigational skills of Worsley, armed with just the barest equipment, they reached South Georgia on 10 May 1916. Shackleton, in his later account of the journey, recalled Crean's tuneless singing at the tiller: "He always sang when he was steering, and nobody ever discovered what the song was ... but somehow it was cheerful".
They made their South Georgia landfall on the uninhabited southern coast, having decided that the risk of aiming directly for the whaling
Whaling
Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...
stations on the north side was too great; if they missed the island to the north they would be swept out into the Atlantic Ocean. The original plan was to work the James Caird around the coast, but the boat's rudder had broken off after their initial landing, and some of the party were, in Shackleton's view, unfit for further travel. The three fittest men—Shackleton, Crean, and Worsley—were therefore required to trek 30 smi across the island's glaciated
Glacier
A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...
surface, in a hazardous 36-hour journey to the nearest manned whaling station. This trek was the first recorded crossing of the mountainous island, completed without tents, sleeping bags, or map—their only mountaineering equipment was a carpenter's adze
Adze
An adze is a tool used for smoothing or carving rough-cut wood in hand woodworking. Generally, the user stands astride a board or log and swings the adze downwards towards his feet, chipping off pieces of wood, moving backwards as they go and leaving a relatively smooth surface behind...
, a length of alpine rope, and screws from the James Caird hammered through their boots to serve as crampons
Crampons
Crampons are traction devices used to improve mobility on snow and ice. There are three main attachment systems for footwear: step-in, hybrid, and strap bindings. The first two require boots with welts, the last adapt to any type....
. They arrived at the whaling station at Stromness
Stromness (South Georgia)
Stromness is a former whaling station on the northern coast of South Georgia Island in the South Atlantic. Its historical significance is that it represents the destination of Ernest Shackleton's epic rescue journey in 1916. See also Stromness Bay...
, tired and dirty, hair long and matted, faces blackened by months of cooking by blubber stoves—"the world's dirtiest men", according to Worsley. They quickly organized a boat to pick up the three on the other side of South Georgia, but thereafter it took Shackleton three months and four attempts by ship to rescue the other 22 men still on Elephant Island.
Later life
Warrant Officer
A warrant officer is an officer in a military organization who is designated an officer by a warrant, as distinguished from a commissioned officer who is designated an officer by a commission, or from non-commissioned officer who is designated an officer by virtue of seniority.The rank was first...
(as a Boatswain
Boatswain
A boatswain , bo's'n, bos'n, or bosun is an unlicensed member of the deck department of a merchant ship. The boatswain supervises the other unlicensed members of the ship's deck department, and typically is not a watchstander, except on vessels with small crews...
), in recognition of his service on the Endurance, and was awarded his third Polar Medal. On 5 September 1917 Crean married Ellen Herlihy of Annascaul. For the remainder of the First World War he served first at the Chatham barracks, and then on HMS Colleen.
In early 1920, Shackleton was organising another Antarctic expedition, later to be known as the Shackleton-Rowett Expedition
Shackleton-Rowett Expedition
The Shackleton–Rowett Expedition was Sir Ernest Shackleton's last Antarctic project, and the final episode in the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. The venture, financed by businessman John Quiller Rowett, is sometimes referred to as the Quest Expedition after its ship Quest, a converted...
. He invited Crean to join him, along with other officers from the Endurance. By this time, however, Crean was married, his second daughter had arrived, and he had plans to open a business following his naval career. He turned down Shackleton's invitation.
On his last naval assignment, with HMS Hecla
HMS Hecla
Seven ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Hecla, after the volcano Hekla in Iceland.* The first Hecla was a 10-gun bomb vessel purchased in 1797...
, Crean suffered a bad fall which caused lasting effects to his vision. As a result, he was retired on medical grounds on 24 March 1920. He and Ellen opened a small public house in Annascaul, which he called the South Pole Inn. The couple had three daughters, Mary, Kate, and Eileen, although Kate died when she was four years old.
Throughout his life, Crean remained an extremely modest man. When he returned to Kerry, he put all of his medals away and never again spoke about his experiences in the Antarctic. Indeed, there is no reliable evidence of Crean giving any interviews to the press. It has been speculated that this may have been because Kerry had long been a centre for Irish Republicanism
Irish Republicanism
Irish republicanism is an ideology based on the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic.In 1801, under the Act of Union, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
, and it would have been inappropriate for an Irishman to speak of his achievements on British polar expeditions. In fact, Crean and his family were once the victims of a Black and Tan (British paramilitary) raid during the War of Independence. The raiders ransacked his property and the Creans felt threatened until the Black and Tans happened across a framed photo of Crean in Royal Navy dress uniform and medals. They then left his inn
In 1938 Crean became ill with a burst appendix. He was taken to the nearest hospital in Tralee, but as no surgeon was available there to operate, he was transferred to the Bons Secours Hospital in Cork
Cork (city)
Cork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland's third most populous city. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the province of Munster. Cork has a population of 119,418, while the addition of the suburban...
where his appendix was removed. Because the operation had been delayed, an infection developed, and after a week in the hospital he died on 27 July 1938, shortly after his sixty-first birthday. He was buried in his family's tomb at the cemetery in Ballynacourty.
Crean is commemorated in at least two place names: Mount Crean
Mount Crean
Mount Crean is one of the westernmost peaks in the dry valley region of South Victoria Land in Antarctica. It lies at , rises to , and is the highest summit in the Lashly Mountains...
8630 feet (2,630.4 m) in Victoria Land
Victoria Land
Victoria Land is a region of Antarctica bounded on the east by the Ross Ice Shelf and the Ross Sea and on the west by Oates Land and Wilkes Land. It was discovered by Captain James Clark Ross in January 1841 and named after the UK's Queen Victoria...
, and the Crean Glacier
Crean Glacier
Crean Glacier is a glacier 4 miles long, flowing northwest from Wilckens Peaks to the head of Antarctic Bay on the north coast of South Georgia. Surveyed by the SGS in the period 1951-57 and named by the United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee for Irishman Tom Crean, Second Officer of the...
on South Georgia. A one-man play, Tom Crean – Antarctic Explorer
Irish Repertory Theatre
The Irish Repertory Theatre is an Off Broadway theatre, founded by Ciarán O’Reilly and Charlotte Moore, which opened its doors in September 1988, with Sean O’Casey’s The Plough and the Stars.The mission of the theatre was and remains:...
, has been widely performed since 2001 by its author Aidan Dooley, including a special showing at the South Pole Inn, Annascaul, in October 2001. Present were Crean's daughters, Eileen and Mary, both in their 80s. Apparently he never told them his stories; according to Eileen: "He put his medals and his sword in a box ... and that was that. He was a very humble man".
Further reading
- Michael Smith, 2010, 'Great Endeavour – Ireland's Antarctic Explorers', Collins Press
External links
- Tom Crean Society's Website Accessed 9 October 2008.
- Crean and Shackleton Antarctic Commemorative Coins Issued by Ireland Accessed 9 October 2008.
- Early Recording of The Ballad of Tom Crean