Customer Reviews

Unsung Hero, An

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The book was good but a little more simplistic than I expected. It was overall enjoyable and provided some information about Crean not available from other sources. As a whole though if I was not already very familiar with the expeditions this book would not have given a proper picture. So I would recommend this book as a supplement to other books which deal with those expeditions on a grander scale.

Tom Crean came to polar exploration almost by accident. Having left the poor Kerry farm where he grew up, he joined the British Navy and, in 1901, his ship was in the New Zealand port of Lyttleton just as Captain Scott's Discovery was preparing to leave for the Antarctic. Crean volunteered to join Discovery to replace a deserter. Over the next 15 years his physical and mental strength, his courage and resourcefulness, and his unfailing good humour made him a key member of both of Scott's expeditions and then of Shackleton's which ended with the famous escape after Endurance was crushed in the ice. Crean was with Shackleton both on the heroic boat journey and for the truly incredible crossing of South Georgia.
He was a simple, unpretentious man, content to serve faithfully, an unsung hero because he shunned the limelight. Although the three Antarctic expeditions in which Crean served have been written about many times, and although Crean's name and participation have figured in those accounts, it is only when the spotlight is finally shone on him alone that one appreciates the full extent of his contributions. At the end of it all, fittingly, he quietly returned to Kerry and bought a pub.