An Unsung Hero: Tom Crean - Antarctic Survivor by Michael Smith Page A

work which would add a large degree of academic credibility to the mission. Under the guidance of Wilson, he took meteorologists, geologists, biologists, physicists, a motor engineer and Herbert Ponting, the 40-year-old photographer, or ‘Camera Artist’, who was to capture some unforgettable photographs and moving film footage of Antarctica.

    Scott’s Number Two was to be Edward ‘Teddy’ Evans, who had sailed on the first
Discovery
relief expedition in 1903 and knew Antarctica. A place was also found for Henry Robertson Bowers, a small, squat man of only 5 ft 4 ins with a beak-like nose and enormous strength who boasted a 40-inch chest measurement. Inevitably, Bowers was known as ‘Birdie’.

    Transportation was to be a key element of the
Terra Nova
expedition and Scott appointed the taciturn ex-English public schoolboy and cavalry officer, Lawrence Edward Grace Oates, to look after the Siberian ponies. The intention was that the ponies would carry essential supplies onto the Barrier and avoid too much man-hauling of the sledges. A slightly eccentric global traveller, Cecil Meares, was hired to look after the dog teams and Bernard Day, a member of Shackleton’s recent
Nimrod
party, was appointed to take care of the motor-driven tractors. Scott agreed to take along a tall, dashing 21-year-old Norwegian ski expert, Tryggve Gran, after consulting Nansen in Norway shortly before the expedition sailed.

    The polar landing party, 31 in all, was rounded off by two Russians, Anton Omelchenko and Dimitri Gerof, hired to groom the ponies and help drive the dogs. It also included a six-man party, under the leadership of Captain Victor Campbell, which would explore the coast of King Edward VII Land.

    Crean joined
Terra Nova
and immediately bumped into several familiar faces like Evans and Lashly and soon began to get acquainted with the others as they came aboard over the next few weeks. He was on hand to record the party’s first meeting with the ill-fated Oates, who arrived on the
Terra Nova
, which was berthed at South-West India Docks on the Thames, in May. The arrival of Oates, a cavalry captain with a distinguished record from the Boer War, was eagerly awaited by the naval men who were keen to indulge in customary inter-service rivalry and banter.

    But as he stepped onto the ship, the 30-year-old Oates was wearing a battered bowler hat and a scruffy looking raincoat buttoned up to the neck, which was hardly the typical attire of a stiff-backed, cavalry captain. The seamen were astonished and according to later recollections from relatives of Oates, Crean observed:

    ‘We could none of us make out who or what he was when he came on board – we never for a moment thought he was an officer, for they were usually so smart. We made up our minds he was a farmer, he was so nice and friendly, just like one of ourselves, but oh! he was a gentleman, quite a gentleman and always a gentleman.’ 10

    Oddly enough, Oates, who became known as ‘soldier’, had once ridden at the Tralee races in Ireland, only a few miles from Crean’s home along the Dingle Peninsula in Kerry. Althoughthey came from very different social and cultural backgrounds, the men would develop a mutual respect for one another.

    There was feverish activity in and around South-West India Docks in the spring of 1910 as
Terra Nova
prepared to set sail. Gran, the Norwegian, arrived in mid-May, and reported men tearing about ‘like busy ants’. An endless supply of equipment boxes were stowed away as the party tried to find suitable space on the crowded holds and decks for the sailing party of 60 men, 30 dogs, 19 ponies and countless boxes of stores and equipment for at least two years.

    Preparations were eventually complete and at 5 p.m. on 1 June 1910,
Terra Nova
finally slipped away from the wharf and onto the Thames. Some of those onboard were struck by two odd coincidences as
Terra Nova
moved slowly along the Thames. First, the nation was again mourning