An Unsung Hero: Tom Crean - Antarctic Survivor (4 page)

By November 1901, Scott’s expedition was in open water heading for New Zealand, the last staging post of civilisation before setting off into the unexplored region. Unknown to either of them, Able Seaman Tom Crean would be waiting for
Discovery
.

Some confusion has surrounded the circumstances of Crean’s introduction to the polar landscape. Almost every mention of Crean in books, magazines and newspapers over the years has linked his arrival on the Antarctic scene with the untimely and widely reported death of another seaman, Charles Bonner, at Lyttelton, New Zealand, where
Discovery
was being resupplied before departing for the South at Christmas 1901. However, Crean’s elevation from the obscurity of the naval mess deck to a high-profile place on the
Discovery
expedition had nothing to do with the death of Bonner. Crean was already on board
Discovery
when Bonner died, having signed up with the expedition two weeks earlier. His arrival on the Antarctic scene was due to an entirely different act of fate which has received very little attention over the years.

Crean’s contact with the expedition arose because
Ringarooma
and another man-of-war in the New Zealand squadron, HMS
Lizard
, had been instructed by the Admiralty to lend every possible assistance to Scott in New Zealand before the party set out on the journey into the unknown.
Ringarooma
’s log reported its first sighting of
Discovery
off New Zealand at 4.45 a.m. on Friday, 29 November,
⁵
and doubtless Crean would have been as eager as his messmates to catch sight of the historic vessel as it headed for one of the greatest journeys of the age.

The
Discovery
expedition to one of the world’s last unconquered spots had aroused huge interest in the English-speaking world. It was regarded by many as something of a virility symbol for Britain at a time when the Victorian age had finally drawn to a close and the Empire was under severe strain in places like South Africa and Ireland.

A little later that day,
Discovery
arrived at Lyttelton Harbour, just to the south of Christchurch and
Ringarooma
’s Captain Rich wasted little time carrying out Admiralty orders to help the explorers. He immediately provided Scott with some extra manpower to assist with his preparations for the journey. This included extensive overhauling and refitting to
Discovery
’s rigging and a trip into dry dock to trace a persistent leak which had badly damaged some provisions since leaving London.

The
Ringarooma
log records that the first working party was despatched to
Discovery
on 3 December 1901.
⁶
It seems probable that Crean was a member of that and other teams of men who were sent across the harbour to the
Discovery
over the following two and a half weeks while the ship was docked at Lyttelton. From 3 December to 20 December, the ship’s log details an almost unbroken daily routine of crew members leaving the ship in the morning and returning in late afternoon after a stint on
Discovery
’s decks.

As a member of these working parties, Crean quickly gained some knowledge of
Discovery
as a working vessel and the mood on board. It also helps explain why he volunteered to join a ship making ready to sail into largely unexplored territory for perhaps two or three years.

However, it needed another intervention of fate to bring Crean onto the Antarctic stage alongside the likes of Scott, Shackleton, Wilson, Lashly, Evans and Wild, some of the most famous names from the Heroic Age of polar exploration who were all together on board
Discovery
that day in Lyttelton.

Crean’s opportunity came when Scott encountered an ugly problem with a member of the
Discovery
crew, seaman Harry
J. Baker. Surprisingly, the Baker incident has been widely overlooked in chronicling events at this time.

Baker, who appears to have been a troublemaker, struck a Petty Officer for some unknown reason and promptly deserted. This left Scott with an unexpected vacancy to fill only days before he was due to sail south and he went straight to Captain Rich on the
Ringarooma
for help.

Scott chose not to mention the Baker incident in his bestselling book on the expedition and Markham provided only scant information about the seaman. Indeed, Baker does not warrant a single mention in the lengthy Scott tome, even in the list of crew members. It is as though he did not exist. However, it was the little-documented desertion of Harry J. Baker which was directly responsible for introducing Tom Crean to polar exploration.

Seaman Baker, who was 25 years of age and came from Sandgate in Kent, appears to have caused problems on the
Discovery
’s long journey from England and was not popular. But the only formal record of Baker’s misdemeanours can be found in a handwritten letter from Scott to the Royal Geographical Society dated 18 December 1901 as
Discovery
was preparing to leave New Zealand for the last time.
⁷
It was also written three days before Bonner’s fatal accident and the subsequent desertion of another seaman, Sinclair, who felt responsible for Bonner’s death and also fled.

Scott hinted at earlier difficulties with seaman Baker when he confided to the RGS:

Striking a PO was an offence regarded as very serious in the Royal Navy at any time and Scott immediately ordered Baker’s arrest. In his letter to the RGS, Scott dutifully reported:

Sir Clements Markham, presumably acting on Scott’s information, later wrote his own truncated version of events in his
Personal Narrative
. He described the Baker incident in the following way:

Markham later amended his initial entry with a more abrupt verdict on Baker, striking out the original comments and writing:

Nor does
Ringarooma
’s log provide any further background into the circumstances of Crean’s appointment and transfer to
Discovery
. But it does show that Crean was assigned to
Discovery
before Bonner’s death. The final entry in the log on 9 December, some eleven days before Bonner’s death, simply records:

Records of the
Discovery
expedition at the RGS show that Crean was recruited on 10 December 1901. Scott merely recorded in his letter to the RGS:

The farmer’s-son-turned-sailor had now graduated to exploration and for his troubles Crean was paid the going rate for an able seaman, some £2 5s 7d per month (£2.28 or the equivalent of £201 a month at today’s prices). The general assumption has always been that Crean volunteered for
Discovery
in those days before Christmas, 1901, although there is no conclusive evidence either way. However, it seems inconceivable that
Captain Rich would have ordered the seaman to join the expedition, given the hazardous nature of the journey. It was also consistent with Crean’s nature to volunteer.

One popular anecdote claims that a shipmate of Crean’s heard him offering to volunteer for the expedition and declared: ‘I didn’t think you were crazy enough for a mad trip to the end of the world.’ Crean responded: ‘Haven’t I been mad enough to come from the other end of the world?’

Crean’s daily trips to
Discovery
as a member of the auxiliary working parties obviously would have alerted him to the vacancy caused by Baker’s assault on the Petty Officer. But there were other issues. Any seaman who did answer the call for volunteers for such a journey would have earned considerable respect and admiration on the lower decks. Any sailor with a knowledge of history would also have known that exploration had been a well-trodden route to promotion in the British navy since the days of Cook and others.

But the decision to volunteer also reflected an early indication of Crean’s innate self-confidence and inner belief in his own ability. This, allied with the sense of independence which he had developed during his tough upbringing, had created a formidably strong character.

The likely voluntary nature of Crean’s secondment to
Discovery
also underlines the essential haphazard nature of the early days of polar exploration. Like the vast majority of the
Discovery
party, Crean had no experience of the polar environment and had received no training for the rigours ahead. The basic qualification for so many on board was a strong sense of adventure and the promise of travel into the unknown. In Crean’s case, there was the added factor that he happened to be in the right place at the right time.

The average age of the men in the
Discovery
party was only 27 and Crean at 24 would have been entirely comfortable with his new messmates. For someone who had lied over his age to join the Navy at fifteen in the quest for adventure, volunteering for a trip into the unknown for an unknown
duration would have represented a new and exciting challenge. Crean had become a popular figure among the seamen on the
Ringarooma
during his near two years’ turn of duty. His messmates confirmed his popularity by arranging a collection to buy a small parting gift for the Irishman before his journey. The small token of friendship was a photo album with a simple inscription which provides a clear indication of the high regard in which he was held. The inscription with the album reads:

Another personal possession he took on his way south was the little scapular, still tied round his neck by the leather cord.

P
reparation for the send-off from New Zealand quickened and Scott planned to sail from Lyttelton, the port of Christchurch, on 21 December 1901, before making one brief final stop at Port Chalmers, Dunedin, to take on the last few supplies of coal for the trip across the treacherous Southern Ocean. However, the great adventure did not get off to a very encouraging start because of the fatal accident to seaman Charles Bonner.

Departure day had begun well, in almost festive mood. The arrival of
Discovery
in New Zealand had aroused tremendous local interest and thousands flocked to the modest little port to bid Scott’s party farewell. The clamour to catch a final glimpse of the explorers was such that special trains packed with well-wishers were chartered from the centre of nearby Christchurch. On arrival they found bands playing, whistles hooting and the enthusiastic crowds cheering and waving.

The Bishop of Christchurch came on board and ceremoniously blessed the explorers after a short service on the mess deck. Soon afterwards, the warship,
Lizard
, and Crean’s former vessel,
Ringarooma
, led the heavily-laden
Discovery
slowly out of Lyttelton Harbour and Scott reported another five gaily dressed steamers, crowded with passengers who accompanied them on the initial stage of their long journey. Scott noted:

William Lashly, the stoker who was to become so closely linked with Crean in the annals of Antarctic folklore, said there were ‘hundreds’ on the quays to hail
Discovery
and added:

But at this point, death struck Bonner, the young seaman. Bonner, who was 23 years of age and hailed from Bow in London’s East End, had joined
Discovery
in June 1901, from HMS
Jupiter
. He was one of Scott’s earliest recruits for the expedition.

Unfortunately, the celebratory mood proved too much for the seaman, who had been drinking heavily and rashly climbed above the crow’s-nest to the top of the mainmast in his eagerness to gain the best view of proceedings below as
Discovery
began to move gently out of Lyttelton Harbour. Scott remembered the sorry episode in his book: