Courtney McGrailShackleton’s Boat: The story of the James Caird
by Harding McGregor Dunnett
(Collins Press, €12.99)
J. Anthony Gaughan
Ostensibly this is a book about a boat, but in effect it is an account of an expedition to the Antarctic in which two Irishmen – Ernest Henry Shackleton and Tom Crean – were involved.
Shackleton was born into a Quaker family near Athy, Co. Kildare, on February 15, 1874. After service in the merchant marines he joined the first national Antarctic expedition under Captain Robert Scott in 1901. Following months of fundraising he organised his own expedition in 1907. He returned to the Antarctic in 1914. His aim was to reach the South Pole and traverse the continent.
Within a year his ship, the Endurance, was trapped and crushed by the pressure of the pack ice. He and his crew took to three long boats and struggled across the ice-floes for almost a year until they reached safety on Elephant Island.
Yet, despite being on solid land, food supplies were dangerously low and Shackleton and his crew realised that no relief ship was likely to come looking for them on Elephant Island. He decided to sail to South Georgia for help.
With five others, including Second Officer Tom Crean, he completed the 800-miles-journey in 17 days through mountainous seas. Following the subsequent rescue of his crew from Elephant Island he returned home to universal acclaim for his heroism and seamanship.
The other Irishman involved in this saga, Tom Crean, was born on February 25, 1877 at Annascaule, Co. Kerry. He began his service in the Royal Navy at the age of 16. He explored the Antarctic with Scott and Shackleton and was admired by both for his intelligence and physical toughness. He was side-by-side with Shackleton across the hazardous ice-floes to Elephant Island, the epic journey to South Georgia and on a 40-mile trek across the mountainous centre of the island to the whaling station at Stromness.
On his return from the Antarctic, Crean continued his service in the Royal Navy on a number of warships during World War I. In 1920 he retired to his home in West Kerry. By that time it was not a congenial place for British ex-servicemen. His brother Cornelius, a sergeant in the RIC, was killed in an IRA ambush at Ballinspittle, Co. Cork, in 1920 for allegedly supplying intelligence to the crown forces.
By nature a modest man, thus Crean had another good reason to maintain a low profile and he and his family seldom referred to his remarkable career. This was in stark contrast to Shackleton who had been lionised and had become a world-wide celebrity.
The 23-foot open life boat which is the subject of this book is the James Caird. It was so named to honour Sir James Key Caird, a wealthy Dundee industrialist who sponsored Shackleton’s Antarctic expedition. It was transported from Elephant Island to South Georgia and then brought to London, where it was exhibited at various locations.
At first it was placed in Middlesex Hospital to collect money for the hospital relief fund. Subsequently it was exhibited on the roof of Selfridge’s department store, at the British Polar Exhibition in Central Hall, Westminster, and the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich.
Eventually it was installed at Dulwich College, London, Shackleton’s alma mater, where as a vessel famous in maritime history it has a worthy setting.
Following the renewal of interest in Antarctic exploration in the 1980s the heroism and exploits of Tom Crean have also, if rather belatedly, been appropriately acclaimed.