Tom Crean (explorer)

Thomas "Tom" Crean
A portrait of Crean, February 1915
Native name	Tomás Ó Croidheáin
Born	(1877-07-20)20 July 1877 Gurtuchrane, Annascaul, County Kerry, Ireland
Died	27 July 1938(1938-07-27) (aged 61) Bon Secours Hospital, Cork, Ireland
Resting place	Ballynacourty, Annascaul, County Kerry, Ireland
Nationality	Irish
Education	Royal Navy apprenticeship, HMS Impregnable
Occupation	Warrant officer and Antarctic explorer
Spouse(s)	Ellen Herlihy
Children	Mary Crean O'Brien Kate Crean Eileen Crean
Parent(s)	Patrick Crean Catherine Courtney
Awards	Albert Medal (1913) Polar Medal (1904, 1913, 1916)
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Thomas "Tom" Crean (20 July 1877 – 27 July 1938), was an Irish seaman and Antarctic explorer from Annascaul in County Kerry. He was a member of three major expeditions to Antarctica during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, including Captain Scott's 1911–13 Terra Nova Expedition. This saw the race to reach the South Pole lost to Roald Amundsen and ended in the deaths of Scott and his polar party. During this expedition, Crean's 35 statute miles (56 km) solo walk across the Ross Ice Shelf to save the life of Edward Evans led to him receiving the Albert Medal for Lifesaving.

Crean had left the family farm near Annascaul to enlist in the Royal Navy at the age of 15. In 1901, while serving on Ringarooma in New Zealand, he volunteered to join Scott's 1901–04 Discovery Expedition to Antarctica, thus beginning his exploring career. After his Terra Nova experience, Crean's third and final Antarctic venture was as second officer on Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, on Endurance. After Endurance became beset in the pack ice and sank, Crean and the ship's company spent 492 days drifting on the ice before a journey in boats to Elephant Island. He was a member of the crew which made an open boat journey of 800 nautical miles (1,500 km) from Elephant Island to South Georgia, to seek aid for the stranded party.