Thomas Crean

Tom Crean (explorer)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thomas Crean (25 February 1877[1] – 27 July 1938), was a
British seaman and Irish Antarctic explorer who was
awarded the Albert Medal.
Tom Crean was a member of three major expeditions to
Antarctica during what is known as the Heroic Age of
Antarctic Exploration, including Captain Scott’s 1911–13
Terra Nova Expedition. This saw the race to reach the South
Pole lost to Roald Amundsen and ended in the deaths of
Scott and his polar party. During this expedition, Crean’s 35
statute miles (56 km) solo walk across the Ross Ice Shelf to
save the life of Edward Evans led to him receiving the Albert
Medal for Lifesaving.
Crean had left the family farm near Annascaul to enlist in the
Royal Navy at age 15 but he lied about his own age as he had
to be 16. In 1901, while serving on Ringarooma in New
Zealand, he volunteered to join Scott’s 1901–04 Discovery
Expedition to Antarctica, thus beginning his exploring
career. After his Terra Nova experience, Crean’s third and
final Antarctic venture was as second officer on Ernest
Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, on
Endurance. After Endurance became beset in the pack ice
and sank, Crean and the ship’s company spent 492 days
drifting on the ice before a journey in boats to Elephant
Island. He was a member of the crew which made an open
boat journey of 800 nautical miles (1,500 km) from Elephant
Island to South Georgia, to seek aid for the stranded party.