An Unsung Hero: Tom Crean - Antarctic Survivor (48 page)

Certificate of qualification for Warrant Officer, 11/8/1917

Certificate for Wounds and Hurts 28/4/1919

(Many of Tom Crean’s original service documents are in the possession of Gerard O’Brien, Crean’s grandson. Copies are lodged with the Kerry County Library, Tralee, KCL)

Letters
:

Admiralty to Sir Ernest Shackleton, 30 December1916

Crean Thomas to Robert Scott, 10 October 1905 SPRI

Crean, Thomas to (unknown) 26 February 1912

Crean, Thomas to J.P. Kennedy, 18 January 1913

Crean, Thomas to Hazel Marston, 3 July 1916

Crean, Thomas to Apsley Cherry-Garrard, 2 September 17

Crean, Thomas to Capt H. R. Dodds, (undated); 3 September1918

Crean, Thomas to Kathleen Scott, 26 August 1920, SPRI

Paymaster General’s Office: to Tom Crean, re: Disability Retired Pay

Pensions, Ministry: to Tom Crean, re: pension award, 16 March 1922

Perris, Ernest to Tom Crean, 2 January 1917

Scott, Kathleen to Sir Francis Drake, 10 August 1912, SPRI

Scott, Peter to Tom Crean, 1935

Scott Robert F to Tom Crean, 23 March 1910

Shackleton, Sir Ernest to Tom Crean (Agreement for employment on Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition) 1914; 27 June 1917

Shackleton, Emily to Tom Crean, 12 November1916; 29 March 1917; 23 August 1917

Wilson, Oriana to Tom Crean, 23 February 1913

‘Tom Crean was a great man of immense strength and endurance and afraid of very little.’
Sir Edmund Hillary

‘Tom Crean’s lone march that day was one of the finest feats in an adventure that is an epic of splendid episodes.’
Herbert Ponting

‘Tom Crean is such a fine character, one of the most reliable men on the expedition.’
Thomas Orde Lees

‘Crean was a man who wouldn’t have cared if he’d got to the Pole and God Almighty was standing there, or the Devil.’
Tryggve Gran

P
RAISE FOR THIS BESTSELLING BIOGRAPHY

‘One of the most inspiring books I’ve ever read.’
Trevor Brennan, former Irish rugby international,
The Irish Times

‘Absorbing, meticulously researched biography of a genuine hero.’
Booklist

‘Should it be that one buys or reads only one polar book in one’s lifetime, let that book be Michael Smith’s
An Unsung Hero
.’
Journal of The Shackleton School 2008

‘This book is a remarkable tribute to one of Ireland’s great polar explorers. Michael Smith’s excellent biography finally puts Tom Crean where he has long deserved to be – in the limelight amongst other great figures of the heroic age of Antarctic Exploration.’
Jonathan Shackleton

‘Michael Smith’s book is a riveting read.’

The Munster Express
‘It’s a wonderful Kiplingesque yarn about a great Irishman who didn’t have to die to become a hero.’
Irish Independent

‘I’ve read all the books, repeated most of Shackleton’s boat routes as well as that of the
Worst Journey
, plus written a book of my own on polar exploration – but this old, bold tale, told well, is one I couldn’t put down.’
Galen Rowell, author of
Poles Apart: Parallel Visions of the Arctic and
Antarctic

‘… compulsive reading … an inspiring and quite remarkable story.’
The Irish Times

‘… creates a fascinating word picture of this astonishing man.’
Irish Examiner

‘This is a remarkable book about a remarkable man.’
Sunday Tribune

‘Michael Smith has written a splendid biography of Crean.’
The Nautical Magazine

‘A ripping yarn, the epic struggles, heroics and the unbelievable hardships of the voyages are wonderfully told.’
The Irish Times

‘A must for anyone interested in polar exploration.’
County Examiner

‘This is a moving account of a genuine hero – modest, honest and powerful. Michael Smith’s book is timely in an age when we pull down our heroes and replace them with nothing. Tom Crean could have come from any period in the history of Ireland’s western seaboard where the Atlantic has a tradition of separating the men from the boys.’
Frank Delaney

I
t would not be possible to thank everyone who contributed so thoughtfully to this book. But I owe a special debt to certain people without whom the story of Tom Crean’s remarkable life would have been incomplete.

I am especially grateful to Tom Crean’s daughters, Mary Crean O’Brien and Eileen Crean O’Brien, who readily agreed to allow themselves to be interviewed about their father. They were patient, helpful and most of all informative. Special thanks must also go to Crean’s considerate and supportive grandsons, Brendan O’Brien and Gerard O’Brien, who provided important guidance and archive material, including Tom Crean’s service records and other documents. Others who helped in the early stages included Dr Hugh R. Crean and Pat Crean.

A special mention must go to several others who were invaluable to my work. Judith Lee Hallock, the first person to write about Tom Crean, gave me very welcome support and considerable encouragement. I am also grateful for the patience and guidance of the Hon. Broke Evans, the son of Teddy Evans (Lord Mountevans), who allowed me access to his father’s papers and permission to quote from
South With Scott
and
Adventurous Life
. The Hon. Alexandra Bergel, Sir Ernest Shackleton’s granddaughter, was supportive of the book.

Tom Kennedy, who now owns the South Pole Inn, has been a great and valued friend of the project, who willingly provided many documents, great encouragement and valuable background knowledge of Anascaul. There was surely no more appropriate place on earth to discuss Tom Crean than over a glass of stout in the South Pole Inn.

Michael Costello at the Kerry County Library, Tralee, provided significant help and encouragement when I needed it most and I must acknowledge the support of Kathleen Browne, the County Librarian. I was also given many useful anecdotes and memories from those in Anascaul who remember Tom Crean, notably Dan Courtney, Mona Kennedy and Kathleen McCarthy. Father Tom Crean (no relation) of Anascaul willingly gave spiritual guidance. Comhlacht Forbartha Phobal Abhainn an Scáil Teoranta, the Anascaul Development Association, were equally helpful.

Dr Robert Headland, archivist and curator at the Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge, was a vital cog in the wheel and gave every assistance in producing original documents and offering friendly advice. Philippa Smith, also at SPRI, was especially patient and thoughtful in helping to trace photographs. I am indebted to SPRI for permission to quote directly from original material and reproduce photographs from their collection.

Jenny Wraight of the Admiralty Library, London, was endlessly patient on naval history. Gary Gregor, author of a book about Edgar Evans, provided useful guidance and Derek Phillips, Assistant Curator of the Cyfarthfa Castle Museum and Art Gallery in Merthyr Tydfil was enormously considerate concerning Crean memorabilia in south Wales. Thanks also to Trevor Cornford for permission to reproduce the photograph of Tom Crean and Bill Lashly on
Terra Nova
. Michael Murphy of University College Cork assisted with cartography.

I am also grateful to Spink & Co for assistance on the history of the Albert Medal and Chris Bates of Dunn Nutritional Laboratories for guidance on the characteristics of scurvy. I must also acknowledge the important contribution of C. Ian Purkis, who allowed me to quote from correspondence between Tom Crean and his grandfather, Captain R.H. Dodds.

I am especially grateful to those who gave their permission for me to use references from books and archive material. To Angela Mathias, who allowed me to quote from
The Worst Journey in the World
written by her late husband, Apsley Cherry-Garrard; Dr Andrew Tatham, Keeper of the Royal Geographical Society, for permission to quote from archive material; Harding Dunnett for
Shackleton’s Boat
; Oxford University Press for
Evans of the
Broke; Random House for
South
by Sir Ernest Shackleton and
The Life of Sir Ernest Shackleton
by Hugh R. Mill; C. Hurst & Co for
The South Pole
; Victor Gollancz for
Under Scott’s Command: Lashly’s Antarctic Diaries;
John Murray (Publishers) for
Birdie Bowers of the Antarctic
; Steve MacDonogh for permission to quote from
The Dingle Peninsula
; Bluntisham Books for permission to quote from
Antarctic Obsession
,
The Wicked Mate
and
The Quiet Land
; McManus Galleries, Dundee, for permission to quote from the diaries of James Duncan; the Alexander Turnbull Library, New Zealand, for permission to quote from the diaries of Harry McNeish; the County Archivist, West Glamorgan Archive Service, for
Swansea’s Antarctic Explorer
; News International for permission to quote from an article by Duncan Carse, © Times Newspapers, 1956; Roland Huntford for permission to quote from
Scott & Amundsen
and
Shackleton
; Sue Limb for allowing me to quote from
Captain Oates, Soldier & Explorer
; Hermann Gran for permission to quote from
The Norwegian With Scott
; Faber & Faber for approval to quote from
The Waste Land
by T.S. Eliot.

I have made every reasonable effort to trace all the relevant copyright holders, although this has not been easy because much of the material was published so many years ago. I hope I will be forgiven if there are any unintentional omissions.

I was given a great deal of encouragement and advice from many other people in a variety of libraries and museums and I must record my gratitude to the secondhand book trade, which is a priceless and illuminating source of material for anyone with an interest in polar history.

The thoughtful contribution of my editor, Val Shortland, was important and welcome. My agent, Anne Dewe, offered sensible and valuable guidance for which I am very grateful.
Thanks are also due to Frank Delaney for much appreciated independent and critical advice. Frank Nugent and Paddy Barry were vocal and important supporters of the case for a book about Tom Crean’s life and I would also like to record my thanks to the many other friends who believed in the book.

Finally, I must acknowledge the enormous support given by my wife, Barbara, who was always 100 per cent behind me and never doubted. Words cannot express how much I valued her support.

Michael Smith
, a former journalist, is an established authority on Polar exploration. His other books are
I Am Just Going Outside
, a biography of Captain Oates (2002),
Polar Crusader
about Sir James Wordie (2004),
Tom Crean – An Illustrated Life
(2006) and
Captain Francis Crozier – Last Man Standing?
(2006). Michael has also written two books for children,
Tom Crean – Ice Man
and
Shackleton – The Boss
. He contributes to TV and radio documentaries and lectures on polar history.

Contact:
[email protected]
www.micksmith.co.uk