Honouring Tom Crean: A Centenary Expedition With the Crean Family

By Bill Sheppard, Aileen Crean O'Brien and Michael Smith

In Honouring Tom Crean: a centenary expedition with the Crean family Bill Sheppard records the expedition he undertook with family In Honouring Tom Crean: A Centenary Expedition With the Crean Family, Bill Sheppard records the expedition he undertook with family members of the Antarctic explorer on the centenary of his historic traverse of South Georgia with Frank Worsley and captain of the Endurance, Ernest Shackleton. Wishing to honour their renowned grandfather and great-grandfather, the family decided to retrace his footsteps on the 36- hour traverse that finally brought the three men to Stromness whaling station—and salvation—after months of being stranded in the frozen ice.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Dec 21, 2018
• ISBN: 9781838530662

Book preview

Title

First published in 2017

by Antarctic Kerryman Publishing Co Ltd,

Co Kerry, Ireland

T: 00 353 (0)64 6641589

E: [e-mail]

W: www.tomcrean.ie

© Bill Sheppard and Aileen Crean O’Brien 2017

ISBN: 978-1-83853-066-2

Editorial and publishing services by Red Hen Publishing.

www.redhenpublishing.ie

Typesetting and design by Bright Idea, Killarney.

www.brightidea.ie

Printed and bound in Ireland.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the author.

A CIP record for this title is available from the British Library

To Claire, Laura and Tom - for being the best family ever.

To Aileen - for changing my life,

for your laughter and love.

Acknowledgements

Foreword

Introduction

Where it all began

Training in Poland

Preparations continue in Kerry

Hearing new stories of Tom Crean

Our story goes nationwide

Injuries and nerves

Eve of departure

Diary of an Antarctic adventure

Aileen’s story

Postscript

It is difficult to know quite where to start in a long list of ‘thank yous’ for this book, however, I believe that at the top of the list must be Michael Smith, author of An Unsung Hero. Michael produced the definitive and accessible book that has brought the story of Tom Crean to the attention of so many armchair aficionados of Polar exploration. His is the source book that we all quote, be it over a pint or in a more serious discussion regarding the pros and cons of Tom Crean, the man. Without Michael’s book we would be all be floundering or, even worse, ignorant of the legend that is Tom Crean.

Another man who has done much to entertain and enlighten audiences around the world on the subject of Tom Crean is actor and director Aidan Dooley. He is also the man who raised the single largest contribution to our expedition fund-raising and for that alone I will be eternally grateful; the multitude of others who gave to help us realise a dream are also a group I am grateful to.

A man who perpetuates the name of Tom Crean so effectively via his internet site www.tomcreandiscovery.com is Andy Walsh; long may he continue with his work. Talking to the people who contacted us with a story to tell about Tom Crean was most gratifying, particularly our meetings with Una O’Callaghan and Elena Merino. Sincere thanks to Barry O’Sullivan for relating the circumstances which led directly to the shooting of Con Crean.

Thanks to the Crean family who supported our expedition by not trying to talk us out of the undertaking and by offering encouragement when needed, particularly after Aileen’s accident.

To Gaz and Monika Nichols in Poland and Nathan Kingerlee of Outdoors Ireland in Kerry who set us on our way by imparting much-needed skills.

The list of medical staff associated with this story is both extensive and, sadly, very necessary. My thanks go to Fergus Ring, Dr Becky and the medical teams in the Falklands, Santiago and Ireland. The sight of Captain C. O’Neill of HMS Clyde and his amazing crew, particularly medical officer Will Randall, disappearing into a sea mist with Aileen safely on board and on her way to the Falklands is one I will take to my grave.

We have had our differences but it would be remiss of me not to acknowledge the role played in this story by the two South Georgia traverse co-leaders Stephen Venables and Crag Jones, and Alec and Giselle Hazell, the skipper and mate of Pelagic.

On a personal note I must thank my good friend Michael Meehan who was the only person with the stamina to read the original first draft of my manuscript, as well as the will and kindness afterwards to offer useful observation.

Without the attention of the book editor Bridget McAuliffe of Red Hen Publishing and graphic designer Cathal Cudden, all the writing would have been for nothing and my manuscript would be just another dusty adventure journal belonging to Grandad Bill for my future descendents to leave in an overfilled bookcase somewhere; at least now it’s readable!

Over the course of the past two years, very many people have entered stage right, served with distinction, and exited stage left, leaving us with memorable encounters. To all of these lovely people, my heartfelt thanks.

Tom Crean, the farmer’s son from near Annascaul in Kerry, was an ordinary man who did extraordinary things. His remarkable life, escaping from the poverty of Ireland in the late 19th century to play a memorable role in three of the four major British expeditions to the Antarctic a century ago, is the stuff of legends. Crean holds the unusual distinction of serving both Captain Robert Scott and Ernest Shackleton—unusual because Scott and Shackleton were rivals—and outliving both men. Count the days in the Antarctic and it shows that Tom Crean spent longer in the ice than either of the far more famous men.

However, we should not measure Tom Crean’s stature in crude statistics. It is impossible to put a number on the exceptional courage and resolve of a man who saved the life of Lieutenant Teddy Evans in 1912 with the most courageous solo march in the history of exploration. Or how Crean was a cornerstone of Shackleton’s epic Endurance expedition where his numerous acts of outstanding bravery included the voyage of James Caird and the crossing of South Georgia.

Crean inspired his fellow men to survive when at times it was easier to give up and perish. Equally, he is inspiring modern generations of men and women who stand in awe of the ordinary man who did extraordinary things, and humbly try to follow in his steps. Tom Crean’s feats and great strength of character are the ideal canvas for others to create their own personal works of art. It is also appropriate that Tom Crean has inspired his own descendants into undertakings such as the crossing of South Georgia made by Aileen, Bill, Cian and Morgan in 2016 to recreate his traverse of the island a century before.

Doubters may argue that we cannot compare modern-day adventurers with the exploits of Crean in a bygone age. The clothing, equipment and food bear no comparison to the meagre supplies of yesteryear and Crean never had the benefit of GPS navigational aids and other back-up. Nor did Crean do any serious training or preparatory work before embarking on repeated missions into the icy wilderness.

However, this misses the incontrovertible point about Antarctic exploration in any era. Antarctica is no place for timid souls and an accident or a blizzard in -40° is the same accident or blizzard in any age. The Antarctic has no respect for epochs. Instead, we can glimpse a sense of the raw courage and impressive durability of Aileen, Bill, Cian and Morgan and see distinct reflections of Tom Crean in their own highly challenging quest on the mountains and glaciers of South Georgia. This book lays bare the scope and depth of that challenge and offers a fresh insight into the extraordinary qualities that made Tom Crean a true hero and an inspiration to us all.

Tom Crean, in his own modest, unassuming manner, would surely have given a gentle nod and smile of approval.

Michael Smith, 2017

Michael Smith is author of An Unsung Hero, the best-selling biography of Tom Crean and the successful children’s adaption, Iceman – Tom Crean. He is an established writer and lecturer on Polar exploration who has written nine books, appeared on TV and radio and contributed to documentaries for RTE, BBC and others. His books include Shackleton – By Endurance We Conquer, the first comprehensive biography of Irishman Ernest Shackleton in over thirty years. He wrote Captain Francis Crozier – Last Man Standing?, the fullest account of the life of Francis Crozier from Banbridge. He is also author of Great Endeavour – Ireland’s Antarctic Explorers which chronicles the exploits of lesser known Irish figures from history such as Edward Bransfield, Patrick Keohane and the McCarthy brothers, Mortimer and Timothy.

Michael Smith is a former award-winning journalist with The Guardian and The Observer.

Nell and Tom Crean with their daughters Mary (left) and Eileen (right). Crean Family Archive

The challenge for the Crean family as they approached the centenary year of the famed traverse of South Georgia by Ernest Shackleton, Tom Crean and Frank Worsley was how to appropriately mark the moment and celebrate the paradoxical man that was their grandfather and great-grandfather. They knew that Tom, the famed Antarctic explorer and crew member of the Endurance Expedition, would have assiduously avoided showing off or playing the big man, just as he did throughout his life, rarely talking about his adventures and settling back into the rhythm of rural life in Kerry when his Polar exploits came to an end. Tom’s granddaughter Aileen, who is my life partner, along with her sons Cian and Morgan decided that an appropriate way to honour Tom would be by retracing his steps on the four-day traverse of South Georgia that was undertaken in 1916 by Tom, Shackleton and Worsley as they desperately sought help to rescue the crew of the Endurance who were stranded on Elephant Island. I was honoured and delighted to be asked to join Team Tom Crean for this centenary expedition.

This book follows the team during the year preceding our expedition to South Georgia and details our adventure attempting the traverse a hundred years on from when the three men became the first people to cross the unchartered interior of that remote island. Our challenges prior to leaving for Antarctica ran from learning new skills, raising funds, sorting logistics and trying to overcome an element of complacency that tried to convince us that things would be alright and that problems happen to other people. But that, of course, is not the case in real life: problems happen to us all and, indeed, on our second day out on the traverse Aileen had an accident that presented a huge challenge immediately which continues right up to the present day. We both wanted to ensure that the story of her accident as we saw it was recounted in detail in order to address the assertion by our co-leaders in the current conflicting documentary record in press releases, newsletters and the expedition report of the government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. In that report, it is stated that Aileen had either fallen over her pulk or that she later failed to inform the guides of the circumstances of her accident, which makes her sound clumsy or, even worse, incompetent.

Despite all the challenges we have had to rise to, the last few years have been an experience I wouldn’t have missed for the world. The whole expedition, from inception through to training and planning, studying Antarctic history, and finally undertaking the Shackleton Traverse has been—quite literally—a fantastic journey. The experience of meeting so many new and wonderful people has been life-affirming and the warmth and genuine good wishes from so many—some of whom I barely knew—has been truly humbling. The new skills I’ve learned have given me new confidence and a conviction that, while age may be a hurdle, it certainly is no barrier to achieving your dreams.

Tom Crean left a huge moral legacy, not just by virtue of his incredible physical endeavours in the face of insurmountable difficulties but also arising from the quiet, modest and charming character of the man. The inclusion of the story of Tom Crean’s life on the Irish primary school curriculum is testament to good sense and there is no finer vehicle for raising his worthwhile profile than Michael Smith’s wonderful book, An Unsung Hero: Tom Crean - Antarctic Survivor. Aidan Dooley’s tremendous one-man show, Tom Crean - Antarctic Explorer, has also enthralled audiences across the globe for many years. Tom’s story continues to inspire; it is what brought Aileen, Cian, Morgan and me to South Georgia to fulfil what was a lifelong dream for the Creans and a new challenge for me. Maybe the story in this book will throw down the gauntlet to future generations of Creans and other readers, and hopefully inspire them to achieve their own aspirations.

Bill Sheppard

November 2017

Glancing through the small saloon porthole, I saw that HMS Clyde was on the move and I ran up on deck to watch her departure. The ship slowly disappeared into a fog bank that drifted above the cool glacial water. ‘The Clyde’s off!’ I called out to the others below but there were no takers to watch her depart with the injured Aileen now safely on board in the company of a fully qualified Navy medical officer and a well-equipped sick bay. It was such a relief after the last few days of turmoil but how, I wondered, as I returned to my bunk, did we get to this point.

Aileen often recalled how her grandmother Nell, who was Tom Crean’s wife, had sold the South Pole Inn and moved in with Aileen’s newly married mother Eileen Crean and husband Tom O’Brien. For the next twenty years, the domineering matriarch lived with her daughter, son-in-law and their five children in an increasingly cramped house in Tralee, County Kerry, until her death in 1968. Years earlier, following the death of her father Tom in 1938 when she was only sixteen, Eileen had run the South Pole Inn under the watchful eye of Nell. She had wanted to become a nurse but had not been permitted to follow her heart, staying at home instead at the family pub in Annascaul in West Kerry to support her mother. Her sister Mary had already left home to work in Tralee. It was only as Eileen tenderly and expertly nursed her mother through her final illness that Nell acknowledged the sacrifice that her daughter had made as a young woman. She told Eileen that she should have allowed her follow her heart and become a nurse. This was a rare expression of regret from a woman who wasn’t very open.

Aileen always regretted that her grandmother was so reticent when it came to telling the grandchildren stories about the exploits of her husband and their grandfather, Tom Crean. Tom had shown a similar reticence to talk about his life on his return to Annascaul from his three trips to Antarctica with two of the most renowned Antarctic explorers and sea captains, Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton. But the political landscape in Ireland during the 1920s, when the War of Independence was followed by a bloody civil war, would not have endeared Tom, as a retired British Navy boatswain and decorated hero, to some. Indeed, a short distance from Tom’s birthplace is the site where the first landmine was used in the country by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) to blow up a British military truck, in August 1920. The front axle and wheels of the army truck can still be seen in a garden not fifty yards from his old home at Gurtuchrane, just a mile outside Annascaul. It was only later—thanks to author Michael Smith—that the threads of Tom Crean’s extraordinary tale were brought together in his magnificent book, An Unsung Hero: Tom Crean - Antarctic Survivor.

Aileen understood that Tom’s inspiration to the family was immeasurable and that the value of his amazing story to a new generation of Irish children via the primary curriculum is incalculable. He stands as a heroic yet modest figure in history, teaching us about fortitude, inner strength and kindness, accompanied by a steely resolve and a smile. For several years, Aileen was considering how best to celebrate her grandfather’s achievements, particularly as the centenary of Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (also known as the Endurance Expedition) was drawing near. This was an expedition where Tom Crean played a prominent role in what was to be his final visit of three to Antarctica. But what was she to do? She wondered if she could attempt to understand some of what Tom had encountered and experienced by completing the famed South Georgia traverse that Tom Crean, Ernest Shackleton and Frank Worsley had undertaken in 1916 in a desperate and brave attempt to find help so that the crew of the Endurance could be saved. She wanted to honour her grandfather’s memory by retracing one small, but very significant, part of his historic journey.

Aileen shared her tentative plans with her sons Cian and Morgan and they agreed to join in the journey to honour their great-grandfather. She then asked me if I would join the family on the expedition. I was honoured to be given this wonderful opportunity to pay homage to my partner’s grandfather and one of Antarctica’s great heroes. Aileen, Cian and Morgan, along with myself, knew that we were but bit players in the realm of giants of Antarctic exploration, but that didn’t stop us from wanting to take this opportunity to walk in Tom’s footsteps across South Georgia and to look at the Antarctic landscape in wonder and awe at the momentous adventure that had brought their family member to this remote island.

The plan was that we would travel to the Antarctic region and South Georgia and attempt the four-day traverse that Tom had completed over a thirty-six hour period with Shackleton and Worsley in May 1916 before they reached civilisation and sanctuary in the form of the whaling community in Stromness on the north side of the island. There was a lot to organise and we needed help with the logistics. Aileen sought advice from the best person she could possibly think of—Mike Barry, a Kerry adventurer and the first Irishman to walk to the South Pole, in 2004. He was also a member of the extraordinary team which, in 1997, attempted to recreate the James Caird boat journey across the Southern Ocean and the traverse of South Georgia. He agreed to meet up with us at Ballyseedy Garden Centre and Café near Tralee to answer our questions and, more importantly, to suggest a solution to the conundrum that lay ahead.

Mike is a