Tom Crean (explorer)
Tom Crean | |
|---|---|
 Tom Crean with sled dog puppies, February 1915 | |
| Born | 20 July 1877 Gurtuchrane, County Kerry, Ireland |
| Died | 27 July 1938 (aged 61) |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Occupation | Explorer |
Tom Crean (20 July 1877 – 27 July 1938) was an Irish seaman and Antarctic explorer, from County Kerry. He enlisted in the British Royal Navy at the age of fifteen as a Boy 2nd class. In 1901, while on naval duty serving as an Able Seaman on HMS Ringarooma in New Zealand, he volunteered to join Robert Falcon Scott's 1901–1904 British National Antarctic Expedition on Discovery, thus beginning a distinguished career as an explorer during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.
Crean was on three of the four major British expeditions to Antarctica during this period. 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 35-mile (56 km) solo walk across the Ross Ice Shelf to save the life of Edward Evans led to the award of the Albert Medal. His third Antarctic venture was the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition on Endurance led by Ernest Shackleton, in which he served as Second Officer. After the sinking of Endurance he was a participant in the 800-mile (1,280 km) open boat journey from Elephant Island to South Georgia, and was one of the party of three which undertook the first land crossing of South Georgia.
These feats earned him a reputation as a tough and dependable polar traveller. After the Endurance expedition Crean returned to the Navy, and when his naval career ended in 1920 he moved back to County Kerry. Here he opened a public house in his home town, Annascaul, called the South Pole Inn. He lived there quietly and unobtrusively until his death on 27 July 1938.
Early life and career
Crean was born 20 July 1877 in the farming area of Gurtuchrane, near the town of Annascaul in County Kerry, to parents Patrick Crean and Catherine Courtney. One of ten children, he attended the local Brackluin Catholic school until the age of twelve, leaving school to lend much needed help on the family farm. At fifteen years old, he enlisted in the Royal Navy, probably lying about his age to get in. His rank at enlistment in July 1893, 10 days before his sixteenth birthday, is recorded in Royal Navy records as Boy 2nd Class.[1]
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His 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 had been promoted to the rank of Ordinary Seaman while serving on the HMS Royal Arthur. Less than a year later he was serving on the HMS Wild Swan as an Able Seaman, and also served on the Navy's torpedo school ship, HMS Defiance. By 1899, Crean had risen to the rank of Petty Officer, 2nd Class while serving on the HMS Vivid.[2]
In February 1900, Crean was assigned to the torpedo vessel HMS Ringarooma, part of the Royal Navy's New Zealand Squadron based in the South Island. On December 18, 1901, Crean was demoted from Petty Officer to Able Seaman for an unknown misdemeanour.[3] Nonetheless, his assignment to the Ringarooma would change the course of his life. In December 1901 the Ringarooma was assigned to assist Captain Scott's ship Discovery when it was docked at Lyttleton Harbour, New Zealand, one of its last stops before embarking on the historic British National Antarctic Expedition. An Able Seaman on Captain Scott's crew deserted after striking a Petty Officer, and he was replaced with Crean.[4] It has been assumed that Crean volunteered, but there is no conclusive evidence of this.
Discovery Expedition, 1901–04
Crean sailed with Captain Scott and the crew of the Discovery out of Port Chalmers, New Zealand on December 21, 1901, bound for the Antarctic for the first time. The ship landed at Hut Point[5] on February 8, 1902, where the men established the winter quarters from which they would launch scientific and exploratory sledging journeys. Crean soon established himself as one of the most consistent sledgers in the party, with only seven of the 48–member party logging more time in harness than Crean's 149 days.[6] Just as importantly for men living and working in such close quarters, Crean had a good sense of humour and was well liked by the men. Captain Scott's deputy, 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."[7] It was at this time that he formed close friendships with William Lashly and Edgar Evans, and 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 Barrier". These included the 12–man party led by Barne which set out on October 30 1902, to lay depots in support of the main southern journey, undertaken by Captain Scott, Shackleton, and Edward Wilson. On November 11 the Barne party passed the previous furthest south mark,[8] 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 82°17'S.
During the first winter the Discovery became locked in the ice, and consequently Crean and the rest of the men did not leave the Antarctic until the ship was freed again in February 1904. After returning to civilization, Crean was promoted to Petty Officer 1st Class, on Captain Scott's recommendation.
After the Discovery Expedition, 1905–10
After the Discovery Expedition, Crean returned to regular duty at the naval base at Chatham, Kent, serving on HMS Pembroke in 1904, and transferring later to the torpedo school on HMS Vernon. Crean had caught Captain Scott's attention with his ability and work ethic on the Discovery Expedition, and in 1906 Scott requested that Crean join him on HMS Victorious.[9] By 1907 Scott was planning his second expedition to the Antarctic, and over the next years Crean followed Scott successively to the battleship HMS Albemarle, HMS Essex and HMS Bulwark.[9] After Shackleton beat Scott's furthest south record in 1909, but failed to reach the Pole, Scott continued preparations for his next expedition, officially asking Crean to join in March 1910. Crean accepted in April, a few months before his thirty-third birthday.
Terra Nova Expedition, 1910–13
It is clear that Captain Scott held Tom Crean in high regard[10][11], and so Crean was among the first people he sought when planning the Terra Nova Expedition.[12][13] Indeed, Crean's experience was relied upon as he was one of the few men in the party with polar experience. His first major contribution was as part of the 13-man party who laid "One Ton Depot" 130 miles (215 km) from Hut Point.[14] It was so named because of the large amount of food and equipment to be cached there for the parties returning from the Pole. On his way back to Cape Evans with Cherry-Garrard and Lieutenant Bowers, the trio camped on the unstable sea ice. During the night the ice broke up, leaving the men floating on an ice floe and separated from their sledges. Crean probably saved the men's lives by volunteering to leap from floe to floe until he reached the Barrier edge, and walked solo back to Safety Camp to get help.[15]
Crean was one of the men who made up the supporting parties on Scott's attempt at the South Pole. The journey had three stages: 400 miles (640 km) across the Barrier, 120 miles (190 km) up the heavily crevassed Beardmore Glacier to an altitude of 10,000 feet (3,048 m) above sea level, and then another 350 miles (560 km) to the Pole.[16] Crean and Lashly, along with Lieutenant Edward Evans, formed the last support party to leave Captain Scott on his way to the Pole, while Edgar Evans, Wilson, Bowers and Oates continued with Scott. Crean, Lashly and Evans turned back on the polar plateau after ascending the Beardmore, 146 miles (268 km) from the Pole on 4 January 1912, and faced a 750 mile (1206 km) return journey back to Hut Point. Displaying uncharacteristic emotion, and after two months of effort, Crean broke down and wept at the prospect of having to turn back, so close to the goal.[17]
Soon after turning back, it became clear to the three men that the journey back would be a race for their lives, dependent on weather, snow conditions, potential injuries, and their ability to find the depots of food and fuel. They managed to descend the Beardmore with no serious mishaps, but around the beginning of February, Lieutenant Evans became seriously ill with scurvy. On February 11 Evans collapsed, and Crean, thinking he was dead, wept openly.[18] Starting on 13 February, while still 100 miles (160 km) from the safety of Hut Point, Crean and Lashly had to pull Evans on the sledge, slowing the trio down further while their food supplies were getting dangerously low. Evans asked to be left behind as he feared all three would otherwise die, but Crean and Lashly refused. Evans would later say that this was the only time in his naval career where his orders were disobeyed.[19] With 35 miles (56 km) left (4-5 days of travel with only two pulling the sledge), and not more than 1-2 days of food left it was decided one of the two had to walk for help while the other stayed behind with Evans. Tom Crean volunteered. It took him 18 hours to walk the 35 miles over the ice to reach Hut Point, with no tent or other survival equipment.[20] He collapsed just after reaching the camp at 3:30am on the morning of February 19.[21] He had arrived at the camp only half an hour before 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 returned to base camp alive. With characteristic modesty, Crean always downplayed the significance of this incredible 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."[22]
Biographer Michael Smith argues that Crean should have been selected for the Polar Party in the place of Edgar Evans, who was weakened by his hand injury and flagging strength. Smith cites the fact that Crean was considered one of the toughest men in the expedition, and points out that since he was chosen to lead a pony across the Barrier, he had been saved much of the hard labour of man-hauling until the foot of the Beardmore Glacier.[23]
The winter of 1912 was a sombre one, with the knowledge that the polar party had perished. Frank Debenham wrote that Crean's light-hearted nature and Irish brogue kept the hut merry, and 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."[24]
In the Antarctic spring of 1912, Crean was one of the eleven-man search party who went to find the remains of the polar party. On November 12 a cairn of snow was spotted with a black flagstaff sticking out. It contained the bodies of Scott, Wilson, and Bowers. Crean later wrote, referring to Scott, that he had "lost a good friend".[25]
On February 12, 1913, Crean and the remaining crew of the Terra Nova arrived in Lyttleton, New Zealand and shortly after returned to England. At Buckingham Palace the men on the expedition were all awarded the Polar Medal by King George and Prince Louis of Battenberg. Crean and Lashly were both awarded the Albert Medal for saving Evans' life.[26] Crean was promoted to the rank of Chief Petty Officer, retroactive to September 9, 1910.[27]
Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (Endurance Expedition), 1914-17
Ernest Shackleton knew Tom Crean well from the Discovery Expedition and also knew of his feats on Scott's last expedition. Like Captain Scott, Shackleton deeply trusted Crean[28], and in terms of his worth, Shackleton referred to him as "trumps".[29] Crean joined Shackleton's expedition on May 25, 1914 as second officer.[30]
The ship, the Endurance, was beset in the pack ice on January 19, 1915, and eventually sank on November 21. 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 miles (320 km) away. Due to uneven ice conditions, pressure ridges, and the danger of ice breakup which could separate the men, this was soon abandoned, and the men pitched camp and decided to wait. The hope was that the clockwise drift of the pack would carry them 400 miles (640 km) to Paulet Island where there was known to be a hut with emergency supplies.[31] But the pack ice held firm as it carried the men well past Paulet Island, and did not break up until April 9. The crew had to sail and row the three ill-equipped life boats through the Weddell Sea pack ice and then to Elephant Island, a trip which lasted five days. Crean and Hubert Hudson, the navigating officer of the Endurance, piloted their life boat, although Crean practically took charge as Hudson was breaking down psychologically.[32][33] When they arrived, the men, led by ship's carpenter Harry McNish, rebuilt one of the lifeboats - the James Caird - in preparation for Shackleton and a crew of five to sail to South Georgia for help. Crean had a reputation as a tough and dependable seaman; Shackleton wanted Crean for the boat voyage, whereas Frank Wild, in command of the Elephant Island party, wanted him to stay on the island.[32] In the end, Shackleton took Crean, because he had begged Shackleton to take him, and four others.[34] The journey to South Georgia took 17 days, in what navigator Frank Worsley described as mountainous gales and swell. The journey is widely recognized as one of the most extraordinary feats of seamanship and navigation in recorded history.[35]
Because they landed on the uninhabited south coast of South Georgia, and boat's rudder had broken off after their initial landing, three of the men, Shackleton, Crean, and Worsley, were forced to trek across the island's glaciated surface in a remarkable 36 hour journey. This trek was the first crossing of the mountainous island, and was done without tents, sleeping bags, or map. Their only mountaineering equipment was a carpenter's adze, length of alpine rope, and tacks from the lifeboat 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. It took Shackleton three months and several attempts by ship to rescue the other 22 men still on Elephant Island.
Upon returning to Britain in November 1916, Crean returned to naval duty. He was promoted to the rank of Warrant Officer in recognition of his service on the Endurance[36], and was awarded his third Polar Medal.
Later life
Following his return to Britain and naval promotion, Crean married Eileen Herlihy of Annascaul on September 5, 1917. Crean saw quiet service in the First World War, at the Chatham barracks and then on the HMS Colleen. On his last assignment, with the HMS Hecla, Crean suffered a bad fall which caused lasting effects to his vision, and his naval career ended on March 24, 1920.[37] He and Eileen opened up a small pub in Annascaul called the South Pole Inn. He 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.[38] It has been speculated that this may have been because Kerry had long been a centre for Irish nationalism, and it would have been inappropriate for an Irishman to speak of his achievements on British polar expeditions. Crean became ill with a burst appendix in 1938. He was taken to the nearest hospital in Cork where his appendix was removed, but infection had set in. After a week in the hospital, Tom Crean died on July 27, 1938, shortly after his sixty-first birthday.
He was buried in his family tomb at the cemetery in Ballynacourty.
Tributes to Tom Crean
Crean is commemorated in at least two place names: Mount Crean (2550 m) in Victoria Land, and the Crean Glacier on South Georgia.
Crean is also commemorated as the inspiration for Endurance Brewing's signature Pale Ale.[39]
He is remembered in the 2001 TG4 Documentary 'Ciarraíoch san Oighir' (A Kerryman in the Ice).
Crean is also portrayed in a one-man play titled Tom Crean[40], Antarctic Explorer, written and performed by Aidan Dooley, which tells of his life and adventures. The play premiered in New York in 2003, and has toured around the world, including a run Off-Broadway in the summer of 2007 at New York's Irish Repertory Theatre.
Notes
- ^ Smith, Michael, An Unsung Hero: Tom Crean - Antarctic Survivor. Headline Book Publishing, 2000, p. 19
- ^ Smith, ibid, p. 20–21
- ^ Smith, ibid, p. 29
- ^ Smith, ibid, p. 31
- ^ Hut Point was the name given to the location, alongside the ship's mooring, of the expedition's main storage hut. The hut was used in later expeditions as a shelter and storage depot
- ^ Smith, ibid, p. 46–7
- ^ Smith, ibid, p. 46
- ^ Smith, ibid, p. 55
- ^ a b Crean, Royal Navy service record, referenced in Michael Smith, ibid, p. 72
- ^ Scott, in a letter home October 1911 included in his diary, wrote of his admiration for Crean, saying he was "perfectly happy, ready to do anything and go anywhere, the harder the work the better"
- ^ Scott recommended that Crean be promoted to Petty Officer 1st Class after the 1901-4 expedition; see Smith, p. 70
- ^ Smith, ibid, p. 70
- ^ Scott, in a letter to Crean on 23 March 1910, invited Crean to join the expedition. Reprinted in Smith, p. 76
- ^ Apsley Cherry-Garrard, The Worst Journey in the World, Carrol & Graf Publishers, 1922, p. 107
- ^ Cherry-Garrard, ibid, p. 147
- ^ Smith, ibid, p. 102
- ^ Scott, Diary, January 4, 1912. Reprinted in Smith, p. 123
- ^ Evans, South With Scott, p. 253
- ^ Smith, ibid, p. 135
- ^ Cherry-Garrard, ibid, p. 420
- ^ Smith, ibid, p. 140
- ^ Crean, letter to unknown person, February 26 1912, Reprinted in Smith, p. 143
- ^ Smith, ibid, p. 161
- ^ Smith, ibid, p. 168
- ^ Crean letter to J. Kennedy, January 1913, SPRI. Reprinted in Smith, p. 172
- ^ Smith, ibid, p. 180
- ^ Smith, ibid, p. 183
- ^ Huntford, Roland, Shackleton, Carrol & Graf, 2004, p. 477
- ^ Alexander, Caroline, The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition, Alfred Knopf, 1998, p. 21
- ^ Smith, ibid, p. 190
- ^ Alexander, ibid, p. 98
- ^ a b Alexander, ibid, p. 127
- ^ Smith, ibid, p. 226
- ^ Sir Ernest Shackleton, South, p. 116
- ^ Alexander, ibid, p. 153
- ^ Admiralty Certificate of Qualification for Warrant Officer, 17 August, 1917, referenced in Michael Smith, ibid, p. 300
- ^ Smith, ibid, p. 304
- ^ Smith, ibid, p. 312
- ^ http://www.endurancebrewing.com Endurance Brewing Site
- ^ http://www.tomcrean.co.uk/ Tom Crean show website
References
- Alexander, Caroline (2001). The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition, New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-375-40403-1
- Cherry-Garrard, Apsley (1922). The Worst Journey in the World, New York: Carroll & Graf. ISBN 0-7867-0437-3
- Evans, Edward R.G.R. (1953). South With Scott.
- Huntford, Roland (2004). Shackleton, Carroll & Graf. ISBN 0-689-11429-X
- Shackleton, Ernest (1998). South: The Last Antarctic Expedition of Shackleton and the Endurance, New York: Lyons Press. ISBN 1-558-21783-5
- Smith, Michael (2000). An Unsung Hero: Tom Crean - Antarctic Survivor, London: Headline Book Publishing. ISBN 0-7472-5357-9
Further reading
- Huntford, Roland: The Last Place on Earth. ISBN 0-689-70701-0
- Preston, Diana: A First Rate Tragedy. ISBN 0-618-00201-4
- Smith, Michael, Tom Crean: Unsung Hero of the Scott and Shackleton Antarctic Expeditions. Mountaineers Books. ISBN 0-89886-870-X