An Unsung Hero: Tom Crean - Antarctic Survivor

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Fearing Evans would die unless something drastic was done, Tom Crean decided to strike for Hut Point himself, leaving Lashly to care for Evans in a hastily erected tent. Crean took no sleeping bag with him as he did not intend stopping until he had reached help, and the only sustenance he carried were a couple of biscuits and some chocolate. Yet, amazingly after 18 hours Crean arrived at Hut Point, just ahead of a ferocious blizzard, and raised the alarm. It was February 19th and Tom Crean had just completed an act which has been widely hailed as the single most, greatest act of bravery, in the history of exploration. When the blizzard had passed a rescue team set off to find Evans and Lashly, and politely refused Crean’s plea to join them.

From a young age Tim had been left fascinated by the heroic tales of Tom Crean, whose story he discovered while spending much of his time in his father’s birthplace near Castlemaine in County Kerry, Ireland. Pulling up near the RRS Discovery in New Zealand in 1901 changed the course of Tom Crean's life. Photograph: Matt Loughrey Among the first experiences aboard HMS Ringarooma, the ship to which he was assigned, was a 12-day period of quarantine in Nouméa, New Caledonia. The crew’s enforced isolation was a safety measure brought about to prevent any further outbreaks of the deadly bubonic plague which had caused 103 deaths after first being detected in Sydney during the early months of 1900. From Nouméa, Crean and his shipmates embarked upon a three-month tour of the New Hebrides (modern-day Vanuatu), an archipelago of more than 80 islands, located off the northeast coast of Australia. In 1938, Tom Crean passed away at the age of 61 and his funeral was the largest Annascaul had ever seen. He’d contracted peritonitis after having to travel to Cork via ambulance when denied a life-saving appendectomy in the Tralee hospital closest to his home because no doctor capable of performing the operation was on duty when he was admitted.No doctor capable of undertaking the operation was available in the Tralee hospital he attended and so he was transferred, via ambulance, in a 70-mile journey to Cork’s Bon Secour hospital where finally his appendix was removed. For many years it was assumed that Crean’s birthdate was 20th July 1877 and this can be sourced to his Naval record. Similar birthdate errors are an anomaly that existed in a number of Naval records of the time yet no reason for the error can be identified. In 2010, Tim created a Facebook campaign dedicated to achieving official recognition for the Annascaul born explorer. The Discovery expedition was famed as one that laid the marker for future attempts to break the records for reaching farthest South yet it was also noted for being the one that was to divide the two leaders. Tom and Ellen would go on to have three children, Mary, Eileen and Kate, the middle child, Kate, suffered from ailments throughout her short life and passed away aged 3 in 1924 soon after she had returned with her parents from a trip to Lourdes as part of the Irish National Pilgrimage.

Again Crean would excel on this quest, albeit none of the expeditions aims were achieved by the Endurance, but what did unfold from this chapter of failure, was one of, if not the greatest survival story, of all time. He was laid to rest in Ballinacourty cemetery, not far from his Gortacurraun birthplace, in a family tomb he’d built with his own hands. The inscription on the side of his tomb read The visual design of the newly published biography is a radical departure from the self-published editions that preceded it and further information has been added to Tom Crean’s storyboard. Home is the Sailor, Home from the Sea” and atop of the tomb lay a ceramic bowl of flowers which arrived via a white Rolls Royce sent by the man whose life he’d saved some 26 years earlier. Evans, who was unable to attend, had arranged by telegraph upon hearing the sad news, for the floral tribute to be sent through Crean’s former Terra Nova colleague, Robert Forde.

When a deadline for handover of the indemnity had passed, a detachment of 400 men from the naval force occupied the town without opposition. Martial Law was declared and it is likely that Crean was among their number. Fortunately, for a man who would later be renowned for saving lives, the stand-off ended peacefully after the money was handed over. Re-assigned to Wild Swan , Crean sailed north to the naval base of Esquimalt in Canada, home of the Pacific fleet. It was a huge blow to Crean, who rightly felt he should have been among the Polar Party. Of the eight men who stood on the ice that day, within striking distance of the South Pole, Tom Crean was the fittest, the strongest, and probably the most capable of completing the task, and survive the homeward journey. In this to and fro game in the quest for Southern Glory, the next attempt to reach the Pole fell to Scott and the first person he confided in was Tom Crean. The Terra Nova expedition set sail in 1910 and aboard ship were a number of Polar veterans including Tom Crean and his friend Edgar Evans. Scott’s second in command was Lieutenant Teddy Evans and the name Evans would become one associated with Tom Crean for very different reasons. On this date, and after 5 years of intense research, the most complete biography ever written about Tom Crean was released under the highly reputable publishing house, Irish Academic Press, under its imprint, Merrion Press. In 18 hours and after an arduous march in ever worsening conditions, an exhausted Tom Crean summoned the help required to save his commander. His feat was to earn him and his colleague Lashly, who’d stayed behind to nurse the critical patient, the Albert Medal for their remarkable display of bravery.