The greatest hero of Antarctic exploration that no one wanted to talk about

Two years ago, a team of 60 scientists finally found one of the most legendary ships from the heroic era of polar expeditions: the Endurance. It was located at the bottom of the Weddell Sea, in the Antarctic Ocean, more than 3,000 meters deep. It had been forgotten there for more than a century. The press around the world began to remember in detail the story of that ancient expedition commanded by Ernest Shackleton, the mishaps suffered by the crew members, but they forgot one: Tom Crean.

Nobody cited this British explorer, despite being the only one who had participated and survived the three hardest expeditions to Antarctica at the beginning of the 20th century. The first two under the command of Robert Falcon Scott and the Endurance with Shackleton. We are talking about one of the main protagonists of that heroic era of the expeditions, but also the most forgotten, despite the fact that he saved the lives of dozens of companions. However, he was also the only one who, upon returning home and retiring, decided that he would never publicize his exploits or talk about them with anyone.

He retired from the Navy in 1920, returned home to County Kerry and opened a small pub which is still open today: The South Pole Inn. He served beers there until his death in 1938 from appendicitis. Only a small statue recently placed reminds him of it. In the following podcast, with the help of Shackleton’s only Spanish biographer, Javier Cacho, we tell you his incredible story, rescued a few years ago in the biography ‘Tom Crean: A Forgotten Hero’, now republished by Captain Swing.

All episodes of ‘We Are in History’ can be found on the main audio platforms, such as Spotify, Ivoox, Apple PodcastsAmazon Music and We could. They are also available in YouTube. The next episode, in 15 days.