Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Determined to try again, Scott chose Crean among the first of his handpicked
crew for the
Terra Nova
Expedition (1910-1913). Early on, Crean saved some ex-
pedition members stranded on a drifting ice floe—encircled by orcas (who can tip
ice to make vulnerable seals slide off)—by leaping between floating chunks of ice,
then scaling an ice wall, to get help. Later, Crean and two others were the last sup-
port team ordered to turn back as Scott made the final push to the pole (having come
so close, the unshakable Crean wept at the news). Near the end of the 730-mile re-
turn trip, Crean's two mates, sick and freezing, could go no farther. Exhausted and
provisioned with only three cookies and two sticks of chocolate, Crean made a non-
stop, solo, 35-mile march through a blizzard to reach help, saving his mates' lives.
(Though Scott's party did reach the pole, a Norwegian team, under Amundsen, beat
them to it by a month; Scott and his men didn't survive the trip back.)
Crean's most famous act of heroism took place on his third and final polar ex-
pedition (1914-1917), led by Shackleton. Their ship, the
Endurance
, was crushed
byice, marooning thecrew onElephant Island. Hopingtofindhelpatawhaling sta-
tion, Shackleton, Crean, and four others sailed a modified open lifeboat 800 miles in
17 days to South Georgia Island. There they were forced to hike across the rugged,
unexplored interior to reach the station on the other side. A ship was sent to rescue
the exhausted and malnourished crew, all of whom had miraculously survived the
18-month ordeal.
CreanneverdidreachtheSouthPolehimself,turningdownShackleton'srequest
to join him on his next (and last) trek. But Crean distinguished himself as a hero
among explorers—who named both a mountain and a glacier after him in Antarc-
tica—and was honored by King George V. In 1920, he retired from the navy, re-
turned to County Kerry, and stashed his medals away, never again speaking of his
experiences—partly out of modesty, and partly because his service in the (British)
navy could have made him a target for Irish nationalists. An uneducated farmer's
son, Crean left few records of his exploits and didn't achieve the fame of his lauded
(and more well-to-do) contemporaries. Crean married, bought a pub (South Pole
Inn—see next page), and raised three daughters. After bravely escaping many near-
deaths in the Antarctic, he finally died in 1938 of a burst appendix.
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Minard Castle
Three miles southwest of the town of Annascaul (Abhainn an Scáil), off the Lispole (Lios
Póil) Road, is the largest fortress on the peninsula. Built by the Knights of Kerry in 1551,
Minard Castle was destroyed by Cromwell's troops in about 1650. With its corners under-
mined by Cromwellian explosives, it looks ready to split—it's no longer safe to enter this
teetering ruin.
