Author Caroline Alexander described Tom Crean as "a man who would perservere until the very bitter end”. His Antarctic exploits have been amply covered in dozens, likely even hundreds, of previous accounts of Antarctic exploration, and apart from these, not much of interest is known about him. Crean wrote next to nothing down, never gave interviews, and was, when it came to describing his own adventures, terse in the extreme.

Michael Smith does not let these facts deter him from writing a Tom Crean biography, and while he has written an entertaining book, it consists largely of general recaps of the two failed Scott expeditions and the aborted Shackleton transantarctic expedition. For those who are familiar with these stories, there is likely not much new here. It is the same old foolishness: Scott and Shackleton create colossal cockups that result in appalling misery and worse for their crews. Shackleton, at least, was as gifted at getting out of messes as he was at getting into them. Crean's feats are lightly interspersed throughout, and though there is some information about his life before and after Antarctica, it is fairly mundane.

For the most part Smith toes the British line with regard to this “heroic” age of Antarctic exploration, failing to strongly call out leaders like Shackleton and Scott for expedition plans and tactics that inevitably placed men like Crean in harrowing situations. There are few equivalents of these Tom Crean stories from Amundsen's expedition to the South Pole. How could there be? Amundsen made sure that his men were warm, well fed, rested, and that they had the right tools for the job: dogs and skis.

That this book does little to unwrap this enigmatic rock of a man is fitting. Unlike Shackleton and Scott, who were their own greatest apologists, all we have of Crean are his deeds, and this seems somehow to be just about right. ( )

Fascinating story of little known Irish polar explorer Tom Cream whose achievements were breathtaking. Highly recommended. ( )

What an amazing story. Tom Crean went on 2 expeditions to the South Pole with Scott and one with Shackleton. What he did on those expeditions was remarkable! A truly unsung hero, he neither wrote a journal (unlike many of his colleagues) nor wrote a book of his exploits (nor did he talk about what he did!). ( )

There were many famous men who came back from adventures in Polar explorations. Most wrote books or had many books written about them. The exception was Tom Crean, who accompanied two of the more famous Polar explorers. Crean was a simple man from Ireland who wanted to escape the farm and go to sea. He rapidly rose to a position of trust and was known for his ability to survive in the harshest conditions. He was not selected to accompany Scott in his ill-fated trek to the Pole, but was responsible for hauling supplies and saving many expedition members from certain death. In the expedition with Shackleton, he exemplified his toughness by being one of three men to haul a boat over the ice and assisting the crew of the Endurance to get to Elephant Island. From there he, Shackleton and Worsley navigated over 900 miles to South Georgia Island. They then made a remarkable journey across the island to a whaling station. After a short respite the men traveled back to Elephant Island and rescued the rest of the crew. All the principals involved declared Crean to be the real hero of this epic adventure. After these exploits he settled back in Ireland to run a pub with his wife. I hope to visit this South Pole Inn some day. ( )