Monday Annascaul and Tom Crean

On the way back, we stop at Annascaul, the home town of Tom Crean (pronounced crane). In 1892 Tom ran away from home and joined the British Navy. While stationed in New Zealand, he volunteered to join Scott’s 1901 expedition to explore Antarctica. The Discovery expedition was plagued by poor planning and on-site decisions, but managed to return with only a few casualties.

Tom’s skills and toughness caused Scott to invite him on the 1910-13 Terra Nova expedition to achieve the magnetic and geographic South Poles. While the magnetic pole was achieved, the geographic pole was achieved just 4 days after the Roald Amundsen party achieved it.

Crean was later invited fo join Shackleton’s Endurance expedition in 1914-17. The objective was to cross Antarctica overland. While the objective was not completed, the survival story is pretty hair-raising, and is worth a read, if only in Wikipedia.

Tom returned to Annascaul in 1920, married, declined an invitation to join another Shackleton expedition, and opened a pub which he named the South Pole Inn.

The 1916 Rising had taken place during his absence, the Irish (un)Civil War had started, WW1 had ended, and County Kerry was overwhelmingly Republican. Tom was seen as vaguely suspect, having served in the British Navy. His pub was ransacked by the Black and Tans (under pro-British orders) until they discovered his service in the Navy and left him alone, which made him even more suspect among the locals.

He never told his story, never gave a newspaper interview, lived quietly, and died from consequences of a burst appendix in 1938, pretty much an unsung hero until the last 15 years.

It’s small pub and 47 people make it very, very cozy and slam the kitchen. The fish and chips are indeed excellent, and while we quaff our pints and wine, locals come in for fish and are told “private party.” After dinner, we have some tunes from the boys, and James is asked for the Chicken song, which he dutifully renders to great merriment.

We met a local fellow in the South Pole pub, PJ Callanan, who is a musician, does background music for films, and has been a location scout for films, including the original Once.