Biography
Tom Crean (1877–1938) was an Irish Antarctic explorer and Royal Navy sailor. Born in Annascaul, County Kerry, he joined the navy at the age of 15 and took part in three major British expeditions to the Antarctic between 1901 and 1916.
He served on Robert Falcon Scott’s Discovery expedition (1901–4) and Terra Nova expedition (1910–13), and on Ernest Shackleton’s Endurance expedition (1914–16). Crean is noted for several rescues during these journeys, including a solo trek to save a companion on the return from the South Pole. He appears as himself in archive footage in the 1924 documentary The Great White Silence.
Crean retired from the navy in 1920 and later ran a pub in his home village. He died in Cork in 1938.
