Tom Crean did have a life away from the ice of Antarctica and on September 5th 1917 he married Ellen Herlihy who, like Tom was also from Annascaul. He continued to serve in the Navy, throughout World War 1, and beyond. The last ship Crean would serve on was the Hecla, and it was during this service he suffered a serious fall. As a result of this accident he would retire from the Navy on March 24th 1920, and return to Annascaul where he opened a pub, which he named The South Pole Inn. Born into poverty, the son of a tenant farmer, Crean anticipated further hardships but took comfort from the idea that friends who had made this same journey might be there to greet him when he began his training at Devonport on the south coast of England. He was in for a rude awakening. No such welcomes awaited him.

Tom probably left school around the age of 12, with little more than the ability to read and write, and he would have done so to help out on the family farm. It is thought that one day while at work on the farm, and tending to cattle, Tom allowed them to stray into a field of potatoes, much to his father’s annoyance, and during the resulting argument, Tom vowed to run away to sea. It was probably a wise decision not to speak of his exploits. Tragically Tom’s brother Cornelius, who was a serving RIC officer, was killed in an IRA ambush, in Ballinspittle, Co. Cork on the 25th of April 1920. In 2010, Tim created a Facebook campaign dedicated to achieving official recognition for the Annascaul born explorer.

Discovery

It was later, whilst stationed in Australia aboard HMS Ringarooma, that 24-year-old Crean’s life would unexpectedly take another turn and one that would lead him to a place that can be considered his second home, Antarctica. In October 1901, Ringarooma sailed to New Zealand to relieve HMS Mildura. It was a journey that would determine the direction of Crean’s life and career.

Later, Crean was one of the large group that departed with Scott in November 1911 for the attempt at the South Pole. This journey had three stages: 400 statute miles (640 km) across the Barrier, 120 statute miles (190 km) up the heavily crevassed Beardmore Glacier to an altitude of 10,000 feet (3,000 m) above sea level, and then another 350 statute miles (560 km) to the Pole.* At this point in the story, the news publications and history books, quite naturally, focus their attention on Scott’s failed attempt to be the first human to plant a flag at the South Pole. It was though, an accolade that would fall to the Norwegian Roald Amundsen. His fledgling years in the British navy had been a baptism of fire and, in February 1900, yet another long-distance assignment awaited as he boarded HMS Diana, bringing him and 450 fellow sailors to Sydney to man the ships of the Australian Station. 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.His funeral was the largest Annascaul had ever witnessed as his family, neighbours, friends and no doubt, a number of former colleagues bade farewell to the Irish Giant. Tom Crean never spoke of his exploits, never gave interviews and sadly left no memoirs of his exploits. 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.

RV Tom Crean, commissioned at ceremony in Dingle, expected to put Ireland at forefront of marine science ] In 2015, a Kerry genealogist discovered the birth certificate of Tom Crean within Irish Civil records and this documented 25th February 1877 as being the correct birthdate. However, as the more authentic source of the parish records reveal the baptism of a child nine days earlier to the same parents, the only conclusion that can be drawn is that this child was Tom Crean. Read more here After leaving New Zealand in November, Terra Nova was fortunate to survive a violent hurricane, as it voyaged southwards, but by January 1911 the men were on the ice. The Terra Nova expedition was to become the first of Tom Crean’s three journeys to Antarctica that would document his heroism. It was whilst returning from a mission to establish stores at One Ton Depot that would prove vital for Scotts attempt to reach the Pole, that Crean’s disregard for his own safety led him to summon help for two colleagues who were left stranded on an ice floe. 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.Crean prepares for the trek to the South Pole with Captain Scott in 1911. (Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge) His subsequent display of heroism would come at a time when Crean valued his chances of becoming among the pioneers to negotiate their way to the South Pole. In a sad twist of fate, when his own hour of need arrived, there was no one available with the life-saving skills he himself had displayed on many occasions.

In the early hours of May 19th the men roped themselves together and climbed into the unknown interior of the island. They faced peaks, glaciers, crevasses and freezing temperatures, all of which they overcame on a continuous 37 hour march, which ended with their miraculous arrival at the Stromness whaling station on the islands eastern coast.

The Endurance

On the Discovery expedition, Tom Crean also experienced being caught out in temperatures as low as -54 C, falling through thin ice into frigid waters, twice almost losing his life as a result and of course living on a ship that is completely entrapped by ice, for almost two years. When Discovery finally slipped from its icy hold and returned to Portsmouth in September 1904, Tom had firmly established himself as one of the most reliable and valuable crew members aboard, so much so that Scott singled him out for special mention for his ‘ meritorious service throughout‘ and promoted him to Petty Officer 1st Class. ScottPole87S” by Photograph by Henry R Bowers (d. 1912) – Scott’s Last Expedition Vol 1 Smith, Elder & Co, London 1913. Licensed under PD-US via Wikipedia. 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. He was a modest character, who always seemed unfazed by the enormity of his achievements, but he had returned to Ireland as a man who had served in the British Navy, at a time when the country was in the middle of a battle for independence, from the very nation he had served under. Pulling up near the RRS Discovery in New Zealand in 1901 changed the course of Tom Crean's life. Photograph: Matt Loughrey