Author: Michael Smith

The history of Antarctic exploration, an era of unparalleled drama which continues to fascinate generations, should not be written or remembered without recognising the significant role played by the half-forgotten figure of Tom Crean. Without Tom Crean, Antarctic history is not complete.

Tom Crean was a poorly educated farmer’s son from Ireland who served on three of the four major British expeditions to the Antarctic in the first years of the 20th century and was among the very few men to serve with both Captain Robert Scott and Ernest Shackleton. Crean outlived both Scott and Shackleton but he never spoke about his exploits, never wrote a book and never gave a single interview. Tom Crean took his remarkable story to the grave and became a forgotten man.

Crean’s legacy to Antarctic history is awe-inspiring. He was among the last to see Scott alive a few miles from the South Pole in 1912 and went back onto the ice a few months later to bury him. He was also a central figure in Shackleton’s Endurance expedition (1914-16), history’s outstanding story of survival. Crean crossed the Southern Ocean with Shackleton in an open boat, trekked over the glaciers and mountains of South Georgia and returned to rescue his comrades marooned on the desolate Elephant Island.

Tom Crean’s story began in 1877 on a small farm in Kerry on Ireland’s west coast. He was among 10 children whose parents scratched a living from the land and received only a basic education. In 1893, as a teenager, Crean followed the route taken by thousands of other young Irish boys and enlisted in the British navy. Crean would serve the navy for 27 years.

By chance, Crean’s cruiser was stationed in New Zealand in 1901 when Captain Scott’s Discovery stopped for last minute supplies on the way to explore Antarctica. On the eve of sailing, one of Scott’s sailors deserted and Crean volunteered to replace him.

Exploring Antarctica in 1901 was a journey into the unknown. Only a handful of people had ever set foot on the continent – the landmass is bigger than Europe – and the Discovery expedition was the largest and most ambitious attempt to open up the frozen landscape.

Tom Crean, a navy petty officer who was now in his mid-20s, emerged as a powerful and dependable sledging companion who soon caught the eye of Scott. While the expedition did not reach the South Pole as planned, Crean became a favourite of Scott. Soon after returning from Antarctica, Scott went back into the naval fleet and recruited Crean to serve alongside him. They were never apart again until Scott and Crean separated a few miles from the South Pole in January 1912.

Crean was among Scott’s first recruits for the ill-fated Terra Nova expedition in 1910. He was among the carefully selected and trusted petty officers who were adaptable and loyal. Men like Tom Crean, Edgar Evans and Bill Lashly formed the backbone of the expedition’s assault on the South Pole and provided crucial muscle power for the arduous task of man-hauling sledges. Scott never went sledging without at least one of them alongside.

However, Scott made mistakes in selecting the men for the final leg of the 900-mile trek. After marching to within 150 miles to the Pole, Scott needed to pick four from the remaining eight men. But he wanted extra pulling power and at the last moment, took a fifth man. However, the party – Scott, Wilson, Bowers, Oates and Evans – reached the Pole in 1912 to discover that Roald Amundsen’s Norwegians had beaten them by a month.

Crean was probably the strongest of the eight, with Lashly already exhausted and Evans in decline. Oates, the army officer, was also battling severe frostbite and limped from an old war wound. Therefore, two of Scott’s five were struggling even before they reached the Pole and began the return march of 900 miles.

Crean was ordered to return to base camp with Lashly and Lieutenant Teddy Evans (no relation to Edgar). The most plausible explanation is that Scott wanted Crean, probably the fittest, to ensure that Lashly and Lt Evans got back safely.

The 750-mile return march was an appalling ordeal as they battled fierce cold and dwindling food supplies. At one stage all food had gone and they were lost searching for a vital supply depot. In desperation, the men climbed onto the sledge and hurtled down the icy slope like tobogganists on a downhill run. Fortunately, they survived and managed to locate the food cache.

A far bigger problem emerged with about 400 miles to go when Lt Evans, the sole navigator of the party, collapsed from scurvy and neared death. Crean and Lashly placed the stricken Evans on the sledge, dumped all surplus gear and staggered forward in a race against hunger and exhaustion. At times they managed only a few miles a day.

The weary party came to a halt 35 miles from base camp with Lt Evans semi-conscious and Lashly drained. The food bag was almost empty and nobody was coming to their rescue.

Despite his predicament, Crean bravely volunteered to walk the final 35 miles alone to bring rescuers, leaving Lashly to nurse the dying Evans. Crean had already marched 1500 miles and his only food was three biscuits and two sticks of chocolate. He had no stove for hot drinks or sleeping bag for shelter.  

Crean took 18 hours to cover the 35 miles before collapsing in the hut. It was the finest act of single-handed bravery in the history of Polar exploration. However, the subsequent loss of Scott’s party on the return from the Pole completely overshadowed Crean’s extraordinary feat of saving the lives of Lt Evans and Lashly. It became a modest footnote in most Polar history books and is not even mentioned in others.

Crean’s final act in the Terra Nova tragedy was to help find Scott’s frozen body in November 1912. Before burying his leader, Crean performed the traditional Irish tribute of kissing Scott’s forehead.

In the summer of 1914, Crean stood alongside Ernest Shackleton as Endurance sailed into the ice on the famous Imperial Transantarctic Expedition whose lofty ambition was to make the first coast-to-coast traverse of the continent. Crean, as second officer on Endurance, was scheduled to make the 1,800-mile crossing with Shackleton.

The fates were against the ITAE, with Endurance trapped in the ice of the Weddell Sea and never released. The ship, making its first voyage, sank in November 1915, though marine archaeologists discovered the wreck in 2022.

Crean was vitally important to Shackleton as he struggled to hold together the disparate 28 survivors – a mixture of explorers, scientists, photographers and seamen – drifting on an Antarctic ice-floe over 1000 miles from civilisation with no chance of rescue. As tensions rose, the loyal Crean was among few men that Shackleton could trust.

As the northerly drift carried the castaways into warmer waters, Crean piloted a tiny lifeboat on the horrendous seven-day open boat journey through violent seas and threatening icebergs to the desolate landfall of Elephant Island. Crean was among the few still standing.

Shackleton understood that rescue was impossible and only hope was to select six men to make the hazardous 800-mile journey to South Georgia in an open boat, James Caird. True to type, Tom Crean volunteered to sail with Shackleton, leaving 22 men stranded on Elephant Island praying for a miracle.

The James Caird voyage was another terrible ordeal and a remarkable piece of navigation by Frank Worsley, Endurance’s captain. But after 17 days, the small boat landed and the indestructible Tom Crean was still standing.

Reaching the ships of South Georgia’s whaling fleet on the other side of the island, involved trekking over the island’s mountains and glaciers, an unmapped territory whose average peak is 6,000 feet (2,000 metres). Once again, Crean stepped forward and accompanied Shackleton and Worsley on the march which took 36 hours. Well-equipped and fitter modern day explorers are still amazed at the accomplishment.

Crean was also alongside Shackleton in finally rescuing the castaways on Elephant Island. Despite three failed attempts, the men were eventually rescued on August 30, 1916. All were saved. It was Tom Crean’s last act an explorer.

The dramatic story of Crean’s life took another twist when he returned to Ireland in 1920 to find his country locked in the bloody War of Independence (1919-21) to overthrow British occupation.  Any association with Britain was highly dangerous in the febrile atmosphere of rebellion and Crean’s eldest brother – a police sergeant – was shot dead in an ambush. Despite his years in the Antarctic, Crean was also vulnerable because of his long naval service.  

Crean responded to the threat by refusing to speak about his exploits with Scott and Shackleton. Instead, he settled down, got married and raised three children. In the 1920s, he opened a pub in his home village of Annascaul in Kerry. Although he feared speaking openly about his exploits, Crean evidently wanted people to know about his past. In defiance he called his pub the South Pole Inn and it remains open to this day.

Without a book of giving interviews, however, Crean was soon forgotten, even in Ireland. When he died in 1938, Crean took his story to the grave.

He was rescued from obscurity by the book, An Unsung Hero – Tom Crean. The book, the only comprehensive biography, brought Crean to international audiences. It has sold well over 150,000 copies around the world and has been translated into the Chinese, German, Italian and Korean languages. Tom Crean’s story has also incorporated into the curriculum in all Irish schools.

Raising the profile of Crean has also encouraged many spin-offs, such as a fine statue erected opposite the South Pole Inn, an Irish government research vessel named RV Tom Crean and successful stage play. Sir Edmund Hillary, conqueror of Everest, once travelled from New Zealand to open an exhibition about Crean in his native Kerry. Crean’s proud daughters, Mary and Eileen, were among the spectators. 

And the South Pole Inn has become a place of pilgrimage for people from across the world who come to commemorate the extraordinary Tom Crean.  

• Michael Smith is a Polar historian and author of An Unsung Hero – Tom Crean (Gill) and Der Stille Held – Tom Crean (Goldman/Mareverlag). His other books include: Shackleton – By Endurance We Conquer (Oneworld); Icebound in the Arctic – The Mystery of Captain Francis Crozier and the Franklin Expedition (O’Brien Press); I Am Just Going Outside – Captain Oates (Spellmount); Great Endeavour – Ireland’s Antarctic Explorers (Collins Press); Polar Crusader – Sir James Wordie (Birlinn). For children: Iceman – Tom Crean (Collins Press); The Boss – Shackleton (Collins Press).   

Contact: www.micksmith.co.uk