KERRY people will tell you that there are only two kingdoms: the kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Kerry. One is not of this world and the other is out of this world. With stunning sights such as The Blasket Islands, The Ring of Kerry and the Dingle Peninsula, Kerry is undoubtedly one of the most famous and beautiful of Ireland’s 32 counties.
Also located on the Dingle Peninsula is the idyllic picturesque village of Annascaul. Famous for its black pudding, pottery breath-taking scenery and birthplace of the legendary seaman and Irish Polar explorer, Tom Crean.
Born in 1877, Tom Crean was one of ten siblings from impoverished hill farmers. His education was basic, he left school with little more than the ability to read and write. As a result of this, there was very few job opportunities, except for working back-breaking hours on the family’s field. At the age of sixteen he was forced to leave his family home and move overseas to England, where he joined the Royal Navy.
Tom would initially spend his first eight years as a common naval (Bluejacket) and while serving on the ship Ringarooma he volunteered to join Captain Robert Falcon’s Scott’s Discovery expedition of 1901 – 1904 to Antarctica and thus beginning his Artic exploring Adventure to the most inhospitable place on earth. He later become part of the Terra Nova expeditions led by the doomed Captain Scott on his ill-fated quest to reach the South Pole in 1911/12. Crean was a key figure on the expedition, dragging a sledge to within 150 miles of the South Pole in -40 conditions, before being ordered by Scott to return to base camp.
Scott held Crean in high regard and wrote in one of his last entries in his diary that Crean wept with disappointment at the prospect of having to turn back so close to their goal. Tom Crean was among the last three men to see Scott and his party alive. Although they made it to the South Pole, they were beaten weeks earlier by the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. Scott’s party failed to return and died 13 miles from a food and supply depot camp.
Tom Crean spent more time in the Antarctic Region than either Scott or Shackleton and outlived them both, dying of a burst appendix at the age of 61 in 1938.
Crean once again become a key figure on Ernest Shackleton’s mission on board the ship Endurance (1914 – 1916) and again became the linchpin, as a dog handler, to another ill-fated adventure to the South Pole. His mates referred to him as the Irish Giant for his sheer size and physical strength. During the Endurance expedition, the crew abandoned ship after it became locked in ice for nearly 500 days in the Weddell Sea. Crean was nearly crushed in the shifting of the ice. Sadly, the Inuit dogs Tom was looking after, either died of disease, or were shot and eaten.
After several months on floating ice sheets, the decision was made to sail in three lifeboats to the desolate Elephant Island. Ernest Shackleton then wanted six men to accompany him on a hazardous 800 nautical miles journey in a tiny James Caird lifeboat to South Georgia. Crean begged to be included in the boats crew. Historians regard the voyage of the James Caird crew a 22-foot lifeboat as one of the greatest sea journeys ever completed. Unbelievably it was held together, by seal fat, lamp wick and the luck of the Irish through some of the roughest seas in the world, with waves the size of skyscrapers.
After a seventeen day voyage of unimaginable conditions they reached South Georgia, but the journey was far from over, they then had to march for thirty-six hours across mountain ranges, peaks, glaciers and uncharted territory to reach Stromness whaling station on May 20th, 1916. They arrived tired and filthy, hair long and matted, faces blackened by the months of cooking beside blubber stoves – “The world’s dirtiest men”. The onset of the southern winter and adverse ice conditions took Crean and Shackleton three more months before the other twenty-two men were rescued from Elephant Island and returned to civilisation.
With no contact with the outside world for over two years, Tom returned to an unrecognisable world. Millions slaughtered, during World War 1 and he also returned to a very turbulent Ireland, shortly after the Easter Rising. On his return to Kerry, Tom married Ellen (Nell) Herily in 1917 and they had three daughters His personal politics on his return to Ireland are a little more difficult to pin down, which is hardly surprising given the sensitivity of the times and his reluctance to put his head over the parapet, even when his house was ransacked by the merciless Black & Tans. His wife Nell was heavily pregnant at the time with their second child and due to rough treatment, she received at the hands of the Black & Tans contributed to the fact that Kate was always a sickly child and would die at the age of four.
At some stage during the ransack, Crean’s Polar medals and other British Navy paraphernalia was found and it seems the raiders stopped the search and departed shortly afterwards. Tom and Nell later opened a small public house in Annascaul, which they called the South Pole Inn.
What is known was that Tom was very proud of his Irish roots. Unlike the dead Scott and Shackleton, Crean has been airbrushed out of Polar history, maybe this is because he remained tight- lipped and spoke to no one about his Polar life. Never once did he give an interview to a journalist or anyone who knew him. Even his two surviving daughters were told precious little about their father’s past, that he never spoke about his life as an explorer.
Tom Crean spent more time in the Antarctic Region than either Scott or Shackleton and outlived them both, dying of a burst appendix at the age of 61 in 1938. He was buried in his family’s tomb at the cemetery in Ballynacourty, Corkaguiney, Co Kerry. Tom Crean managed to cram more danger and excitement in a few years than most people would do in ten lifetimes.
Which brings me to my next point? Why would a man like Tom Crean return to Annascaul and buy a pub, and call it, The South Pole Inn!
I just thought I would take a spin down to Anascaul and find out for myself. So, with three adorable children in the back and the bride at my side, we took a six-hour memorable car journey to the South Pole Inn for a week’s holiday (unforgettable without going into too much detail).
Unlike Scott’s desolate preserved museum depot in The Antarctic, this was a safer option to visit, as we were wearing shorts.
The food at this South Pole Inn was to die for. Great table service with the children receiving adult size portions. I had the Kerry seafood chowder, homemade wheaten washed down with two or three pints of Tom’s favourite drink, Guinness. I was in heaven.
Memorabilia abounds the South Pole Inn and the bar staff are charming, extremely friendly, very knowledgeable and take great pride in preserving its heritage. Just like Scott’s depot in the South Antarctic and the recently discovered wreck of the Endurance, Tom Crean’s legacy has been preserved for ever. Last year, it was announced that the Marine Institute’s new £23m state-of-the-art research vessel will be named in Tom’s honour. A very fitting tribute to Kerry’s polar explorer.
Dara Barrett runs Down Memory Lane Tours which covers the City Cemetery and Milltown Cemetery in Belfast.
