Tom Crean
The ‘indestructible’ Tom Crean was born in 1877 on a remote hillside farm near the village of Annascaul on the Dingle Peninsula. Tom rose from the most humble of backgrounds to play a hugely significant role in founding the Antarctic Continent and was at center stage in some of the most dramatic events at the dawn of the era of Antarctic exploration.
There were four major British expeditions to the Antarctic during the Golden Age of Polar Exploration and Tom Crean served on three: on the ‘Discovery’ (1901-1904), the ‘Terra Nova’ (1910-1913) and on the “Endurance” (1914-1916). He was one of the very few who served both Scott and Shackleton in their efforts to conquer the polar landscapes.
Tom’s story began when he ran away from his home on the farm at the age of 15 and lying about his age signed up for the British Navy. By chance his warship was in New Zealand waters as Captain Scott’s Discovery was embarking on the first major British exploration of the Antarctic in 1901. One of Scott’s sailors attacked an officer and deserted. Tom volunteered to join the journey into the unknown for almost three years. Discovery was Tom’s Antarctic apprenticeship. He participated in the very first man-hauling party of the Discovery expedition that established a new ‘furthest south’.
There was never a greater feat of individual heroism in the history of Polar exploration than Tom’s solo march to save the life of his commanding officer, Teddy Evans during Robert Scott’s ultimately fatal attempt to reach the South Pole aboard the ëTerra Novaí (1910-1913). On Wednesday January 3rd, standing only 150 miles from the South Pole Scott selected a team of five men and left three – Evans, Lashly and Crean – to make the run back to Hut Point. Some time during the previous four days Scott had decided to take Bowers and proceed as a five-man unit when Scott’s own logic had maintained that four was the most that should make the final push for the pole. It was a lot to ask the returning party of three tired men to pull a four-man sledge and a potentially fatal decision should one of them become sick or injured.
The 750-mile journey to Hut Point was a race for survival. Evans began to show increasing signs of scurvy and within 100 miles of the safety of Hut Point, he completely broke down. Evans ordered Crean and Lashly to leave him behind but they refused to let their commanding officer die. What ensued was one of the greatest feats of Polar travel ever undertaken.
35 miles from Hut Point they placed Evans in a tent. Lashly would stay behind with Evans while Tom volunteered to walk 35 miles to Hut Point. He walked, stumbled and crawled for 18 hours in the face of an oncoming blizzard. Through sheer endurance and determination Tom Crean made the distance. If Tom had taken another 30 minutes to make the solo march he would have almost certainly died in the blizzard – and no one would have known that Lashly and Evans were stuck out on the barrier. However it is very important not to underestimate the contribution of Bill Lashly in saving Evan’s life- this was ultimately a team effort and a shining example of what can be achieved as a team when the stakes are high and human life is on the line.
