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Tom Crean Explorer
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An Irish legend
As Polar Explorers go,
Tom Crean was the GOAT
You’ve very probably heard of Captain Scott and Sir Ernest Shackleton. There have been many books, screen adaptations about these famed Antarctic explorers but there’s a story that overshadows them both that you’ve very probably missed.
Unlike Captain Scott and Sir Ernest Shackleton, Tom Crean was born into poverty at a time when a person’s wealth defined their class status. This, among other reasons, is why his epic story went unnoticed for over a century. Media and news journals reporting on the expeditions of the early 20th century, focused only on the ‘officer class’ but today that’s changing with a growing fanbase of international fans who have recently become aware of Tom Crean’s amazing life and career through a body of research that resulted in a revealing biography that provides the most comprehensive telling of his jaw-dropping story.
Escape from Poverty
Born on, or shortly before, his baptismal date of 16 February 1877, Crean’s birth certificate shows an incorrect date of 25 February.
Annascaul
Dingle Peninsula, County Kerry
Not cut out for work on the farm, 16 yr-old Tom Crean joined the British Navy here on 10 July, 1893.
Minard
Dingle Peninsula, County Kerry
The training ship he was assigned to as a Boy 2nd Class. The training regime aboard was strict and sometimes brutal.
HMS Impregnable
Devonport, Plymouth, County Devon, England
The Americas and Australia beckon
Between the years 1894 and 1898, Crean was assigned to the British Navy’s Pacific Station in what was an eventful period of his young life. Equally as eventful, was the period between April 1900 and December 1901 in which he was assigned to serve on the Australian Station.
The years in service prior to the expeditions to Antarctica were an unhappy period populated with events that opened Crean’s eyes to the inhumanities of mankind.
With a service record showing the only demotions documented throughout his naval service, it perhaps reflected his regret at making the decision to join the Navy.
British Navy’s Pacific Station Naval Base at Esquimalt Harbour, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada
Tom Crean’s Pre-Antarctic Naval Career
HMS Wild Swan 1894-1898
Ledgered to a vessel that was considered outdated and obsolete, 17-yr old Crean’s first seagoing Navy assignment was to cross the Atlantic to serve in the Americas
HMS Royal Arthur 1895
Flagship of the Pacific Station, Crean was assigned to her as she undertook a dangerous mission to blockade the port of Corinto, Nicaragua.
HMS Diana 1900
On 27 February 1900, Crean, along with 450 others, boarded HMS Diana in Plymouth and sailed out to Australia to relieve crews on the Australian Station
Tom Crean served 20 eventful months between April 1900 and December 1901 on HMS Ringarooma
HMS Ringarooma 1900-1901
Tom Crean’s Expeditions to Antarctica
RRS Discovery 1901-1904
Crean’s first expedition to Antarctica where he established himself as an invaluable crew member for future expeditions
Terra Nova 1910-1913
On Terra Nova, Crean’s lifesaving skills came to the fore. His historic solo march earned him the Albert Medal
Endurance 1914-1916
When disaster struck after the ship sank, Crean’s own powers of endurance shone in the greatest maritime rescue in history
Crean’s career after the Expeditions
HMS Colleen 1917-1918
In this period Tom Crean was ledgered to the Irish coastguard ship based at Queenstown, However he spent most of the period at the naval base at Berehaven
HMS Inflexible 1918-1919
from 14 November 1918 to 14 March 1919, Crean was on duty aboard the ship which took part in escorting the German High Seas fleet to surrender during WW1
HMS Fox 1919
From 14 March 1919 to 30 October 1919, served as boatswain on the vessel as she took part in the North Russian Intervention to halt advance of the Bolsheviks.
Other notable assignments
HMS Enchantress 1914
Between January and May 1914, whilst serving aboard the Admiralty yacht, Crean’s service coincided with a time when Winston Churchill was also present.
Joseph Foster Stackhouse
If it had not been for Stackhouse, postponing his expedition to Antarctica, Tom Crean may never have joined Shackleton as Second Officer on Endurance
HMS King Alfred 1917
Mysteriously, we have no indication as to why Tom Crean was in Sierra Leone in February 1917 but what we are certain of is that he disembarked the vessel at the port.
Tom Crean’s Retirement and Passing
HMS Hecla 1919-1920
Based in Portsmouth for the final 4 months of his career, Crean served out his time in the Navy aboard Hecla, the special torpedo vessel and depot ship of the naval dockyard.
Retirement 24 March 1920
With eyes that had been victim to storms and blizzards throughout his 27 year naval career, Tom Crean was diagnosed with Retinitis and had no choice but to retire.
Death 27 July 1938
When the lifesaver extraordinaire required a doctor to attend to severe stomach pains, determined to be appendicitis, none was available. He passed away from toxaemia.
So, what defines Tom Crean as a Polar Legend?
Well, over six separately documented events, Tom Crean was either solely or jointly responsible for saving the lives of 30 of his expedition colleagues.
Firstly, on the Terra Nova Expedition, there was the rescue of Henry Bowers and Cherry Apsley Gerrard. On the same expedition he, along with two colleagues, hauled William Lashly to safety from out of a deep crevasse. Next came the historic lifesaving march of 35 miles in 18 hours, to save the life of Lieutenant Edward Evans - for this, Crean was awarded the Albert Medal for bravery.
Moving on to the Endurance Expedition, on her initial journey to Buenos Aries, he saved an unidentified drunken sailor from certain death after grasping hold of his leg as he dived overboard. Next, and as part of a triumvirate, with Ernest Shackleton and Frank Worsley, came the rescue of Harry McNish, John Vincent and Tim McCarthy who were left stranded on the uninhabited side of South Georgia, and finally, in what is considered the greatest tale of rescue in maritime history, came the rescue of 22 Endurance crew who had been marooned for over 4 months on the desolate and wild shores of Elephant Island
Click on book images to visit order pages
Published by Merrion Press 2023
Chronicling
Tom Crean’s
Amazing Story
Published by Keel Foley Publishing 2020
Researched over a 4 year period, the biography ‘Crean - The Extraordinary Life of an Irish Hero’ is the most compelling and comprehensive telling of Tom Crean’s incredible life and career ever written.
In addition to the biography, and written specifically for young children, utilising the sources revealed in the same research, is the illustrated biography for 6-11 yr-olds titled ‘Tom The Mighty Explorer’.
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