An Unsung Hero

Tom Crean – Antarctic Survivor Updated 20th Anniversary Edition

Michael Smith

• Publisher: Gill Books
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9780717186457
• eBook ISBN: 9780717186464
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Historical Biographies
• Index: History

Tom Crean was the adventurous farmer's son from Kerry who sailed on three major expeditions to the unknown Antarctic over a century ago. He was among the few men who served with both Captain Robert Scott and Sir Ernest Shackleton, spent longer on the ice than either and outlived them both.

But Tom Crean returned to Ireland and never spoke about his exploits, taking his incredible story to the grave – until the publication of An Unsung Hero, which unearthed his story and saw him rightfully placed amongst the annals of the great explorers.

This new, illustrated edition of the bestselling classic is a must for anyone with a taste for adventure.

'If 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

'Remarkable … 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

'A wonderful Kiplingesque yarn about a great Irishman who didn't have to die to become a hero.' Irish Independent

'A riveting read.' Munster Express

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

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

Endnotes

Chapter 1

1. Steve MacDonogh, The Dingle Peninsula, p37.

2. Royal Navy service record.

3. Ibid.

4. Ibid.

5. Ibid.

6. Quoted Denis Barry, Capuchin Annual, 1952.

7. RN service record.

8. Ibid.

Chapter 2

1. Sir Clements Markham, Antarctic Obsession, p1.

2. Robert Scott, The Voyage of the Discovery, p24.

3. Ibid, p66.

4. Tom Crean, Royal Navy service record.

5. Log book, HMS Ringarooma, 29 November, 1901, PRO.

6. Ibid.

7. Robert Scott, letter to RGS, 18 December, 1901, RGS.

8. Ibid.

9. Ibid.

10. Markham, Antarctic Obsession, p90.

11. Ibid, p175.

12. Log of HMS Ringarooma, 19 December, 1901, PRO.

13. Scott to RGS, 18 December, 1901, RGS.

Chapter 3

1. Robert Scott, The Voyage of the Discovery, p84.

2. William Lashly, Under Scott’s Command: Lashly’s Antarctic Diaries, pp19–20.

3. Scott, The Voyage of the Discovery, p84.

4. Lashly, Under Scott’s Command, p20.

5. James Duncan, Antarctic journal, McMG.

6. Scott, The Voyage of the Discovery, p86.

7. Duncan, McMG.

8. Scott, The Voyage of the Discovery, p98.

9. L.C. Bernacchi, Saga of the Discovery, p27.

10. Ibid.

11. Thomas Williamson, Antarctic diary, SPRI.

12. Frank Wild, papers, SPRI.

13. Lashly, Under Scott’s Command, p21.

14. Scott, The Voyage of the Discovery.

15. Williamson, diary, SPRI.

Chapter 4

1. British National Antarctic Expedition records, RGS.

2. Robert Scott, The Voyage of the Discovery, p170.

3. Louis C. Bernacchi, Saga of the Discovery, p40.

4. James Duncan, Antarctic journal, McMG.

Chapter 5

1. Michael Barne, Antarctic diary, SPRI.

2. Robert Scott, The Voyage of the Discovery, p466.

3. Ibid.

4. Barne, diary.

5. Ibid.

6. Scott, p539.

7. Louis Bernacc...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Contents
• Author’s Note
• Notes
• Preface
• A farmer’s lad
• A chance meeting
• Into the unknown
• A home on the ice
• Into the wilderness
• South again
• South in a hurricane
• Hopes and plans
• The last great land journey
• A race for life
• A tragedy foretold
• Fatal choice
• A grim search
• A hero honoured
• The ice beckons
• Trapped
• Cast adrift
• Launch the boats!
• A fragile hold on life
• An epic journey
• Crossing South Georgia
• Beyond belief
• Return to Elephant Island
• Life and death
• War, honour, marriage
• Tom the Pole
• Memories
• Endnotes
• Bibliography
• Acknowledgements
• Copyright
• About the author
• About Gill Books