Ballad of Tom Crean

Subject: Ballad of Tom Crean
From: mg
Date: 14 Jun 10 - 02:03 AM

This is very interesting. It is sung by some of the explorers themselves in 1918 I think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7Gs2pjpJvs&feature=related

Tom Crean

Anyone know more of the words? Anyone know much about him, especially his family? He might be a relative of mine from long ago as my ggm was a Crean or Crehan and we just found she was from COunty Kerry..where there aren't too many. But there are some on the Blasket Islands I know for sure. mg

Subject: RE: Ballad of Tom Crean
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 14 Jun 10 - 04:51 AM

WOW. Stunning. Interesting to hear an old Edison cylinder recording too, and I also loved the photos. I'm going to alert Cliff Wedgbury (if he doesn't already know about this), who wrote the modern "Ballad of Tom Crean" which is sung here in Ireland. Jimmy Crowley does a fine version of it*.

Thanks so much for flagging this, MG - it would be amazing to know if he's an ancestor of yours.

*
Cliff Wedgbury's "Ballad of Tom Crean"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=intRFKPMxt8&NR=1

Subject: RE: Ballad of Tom Crean
From: gnomad
Date: 14 Jun 10 - 06:48 AM

The Tom Crean Society can give you a start, mg, and a Google of "South Pole Inn" will give you lots of images, particularly of his home after the Antarctic. He was born in Annascaul (Co. Kerry) and went back there, dying in 1938.

The pub is worth a visit just as a pub, but the Crean memorabilia booosts its status in my reckoning to "worth a detour".

Subject: RE: Ballad of Tom Crean
From: Reiver 2
Date: 14 Jun 10 - 05:09 PM

Tom Crean is one of my "heroes." He played a key role in Ernest Shackleron's Antarctic Voyage in the Endurance in 1914. He had also been a member of Robert Scott's attempt to be the first to reach the South Pole and several other exploring expeditions. Here is what Wikipedia has to say about Tom Crean:

"Thomas Crean (20 July 1877 – 27 July 1938) was an Irish seaman and Antarctic explorer from County Kerry. He was a member of three of the four major British expeditions to Antarctica during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, including Robert Falcon Scott's 1911–13 Terra Nova Expedition, which saw the race to reach the South Pole lost to Roald Amundsen and ended in the deaths of Scott and his polar party. During this expedition Crean's 35-mile (56 km) solo walk across the Ross Ice Shelf to save the life of Edward Evans led to him receiving the Albert Medal.

Crean had left the family farm near Annascaul to enlist in the British Royal Navy at the age of 15. In 1901, while serving on HMS Ringarooma in New Zealand, he volunteered to join Scott's 1901–04 British National Antarctic Expedition on Discovery, thus beginning his exploring career. After his return with the Terra Nova, Crean's third and final Antarctic venture was the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition on Endurance led by Ernest Shackleton, in which he served as Second Officer. After Endurance became beset in the pack ice and sank, he was a participant in a dramatic series of events including months spent drifting on the ice, a journey in lifeboats to Elephant Island, and an open boat journey of 800 nautical miles (920 statute miles, 1,500 km) from Elephant Island to South Georgia.[1] Upon reaching South Georgia, Crean was one of the party of three which undertook the first land crossing of the island, without maps or proper mountaineering equipment, to get aid.

Crean's contributions to these expeditions sealed his reputation as a tough and dependable polar traveller, and earned him a total of three Polar Medals. After the Endurance expedition he returned to the Navy, and when his naval career ended in 1920 he moved back to County Kerry. In his home town of Annascaul, Crean and his wife Ellen opened a public house called the "South Pole Inn". He lived there quietly and unobtrusively until his death in 1938."

If you are related, mg, you can take great pride in that fact. Heck, you can take great pride in just having a link to that name! After Crean retired from exploring and as the Wikipedia article notes, he and his wife opened a pub in his home town of Annascaul on the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry. After his death two of his daughters continued to operate the pub, but I'm not sure if they are still living. The next trip my wife and I make to Ireland, visiting Annascaul and the South Pole pub, is a MUST for us. To me, Tom Crean is a genuine hero. If you go to Wikipedia [search for Tom Crean, explorer] there is a good deal of information about all of his many expeditions. I'm thrilled to find that there is a Ballad of Tom Crean. I'm going to listen to it now!

Reiver 2

Subject: RE: Ballad of Tom Crean
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 14 Jun 10 - 06:26 PM

HEre is a googling

http://website.lineone.net/~polar.publishing/tomcreanunsunghero.htm

Subject: RE: Ballad of Tom Crean
From: Reiver 2
Date: 14 Jun 10 - 06:46 PM

I should have been more specific about WHY I consider Tom Crean to be a genuine hero. Perhaps the most dramatic was Crean's 35 mile solo trek across the ice sustained by "3 biscuits and 2 sticks of chocolate" to save two members of Scott's 'Terra Nova' expedition. He played a major role in the incredible saga of the Shackleton expedition in which NOT A SINGLE LIFE WAS LOST during their 22 months [!] spent adrift on the Antarctic ice and sea, drifting on ice floes and huddled on a tiny barren rocky island. Tom Crean, along with Shakleton and 4 others made the incredible 17 day voyage of some 800 miles through some of the roughest seas on the planet in an open ship's boat, the 'James Caird.' The voyage has been called "one of the greatest boat journeys ever accomplished." Then to top it off, Crean, Shackleton and the captain of 'Endurance,' Frank Worsley, made the first ever crossing over the snow covered mountains of South Georgia Island without maps or mountaineering equipment and with little food, to reach the whaling station on the other side of the large island and then to lead rescue expeditions to save first, the 3 men left behind where the 'James Caird' made landfall and then the other 22 members of the expedition back on Elepahant Island near the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula.

YouTube has several videos related to Tom Crean. The one noted by mg has, in addition to the song sung by members of the crew of the Endurance, many photos of the expedition. Unfortunately, I found it difficult to understand a major portion of the lyrics. On another YouTube number, Mairtin de Cagan and Jimmy Crowley, sing a different "Ballad of Tom Crean," a rousing number of which the lyrics are much more understandable. There are several other video tributes to Tom Crean, including a still different musical number, and more photos taken during the expedition by one of it's members, Frank Hurley.

Reiver 2

Subject: RE: Ballad of Tom Crean
From: GUEST,Mark Stevens
Date: 14 Jun 10 - 08:07 PM

I saw a one man monologue on Tom Crean at Brighton Komedia 3 years ago. It was very good .

Subject: RE: Ballad of Tom Crean
From: mg
Date: 15 Jun 10 - 01:58 AM

I would love help with genealogy of this family...I was just on a message board...lots went to MA USA...Many people from Dingle area ended up in Chicopee MA but Creans seemed to like Holyoke..not sure how far apart they are.

The problem with this name, and I realize people who are Polish etc. have it much worse..is that it can be spelled many ways.>Crean, Creen, Crehan, and it goes into Crogin and McCrogin and Green and Cryan and probably dozens of variations...so we know they were in the BLasket Islands and we know Castlegregory ahd a number and Anascul had at least Tom...and some were in the DIngle area as well, which I found interesting researching other relatives, but I never thought she was from there. But this is interesting..her daughters looked Spanish..and she maybe did a bit..hard to tell...but I think that is where the Black Irish part of the family came from.

All I know is that my ggm, whom we thought came from Clonmel, actually came from County Kerry because I found a death notice and it said that she traveled with relatives..the story we always had was she as an orphan or essentially one because they got her on the ship and she never heard from her family again. Her name was Eliza..possibly an adopted name though. She ended up in Iowa. Years later, a Batt or Bartholomew Crean or Crehan shows up..I wonder if it was a brother perhaps...

Well, if anyone can figure out anything please to let me know. mg

Subject: RE: Ballad of Tom Crean
From: GUEST,^&*
Date: 15 Jun 10 - 03:32 AM

I've never heard of this recording - there's no mention of it in Crean's biography. Can anyone provide a provenance?

This one is my own favourite Tom Crean song.

Subject: RE: Ballad of Tom Crean
From: GUEST,^&*
Date: 15 Jun 10 - 05:53 AM

Some interesting material re songs about Crean HERE

Subject: RE: Ballad of Tom Crean
From: Reiver 2
Date: 16 Jun 10 - 12:28 AM

mg, I wish I could help you with the genealogy, but I'm afraid it's beyond my resources. Good luck with your search!

Can someone please post the lyrics to "The Ballad of Ton Crean" on this thread? I've listened to the recordings on YouTube several times, but can't get all the words. I'd really like to get them. Thanks!

Reiver 2

Subject: RE: Ballad of Tom Crean
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Jun 10 - 06:56 AM

I wrote "The Ballad of Tom Crean" ten years ago, and first performed it at The Cork Singers Club. The ballad is one of twelve compositions which are included on my cd "Antarctic Ballads" Since then I have been invited to perform at the unveiling of Tom Creans fine statue opposite The South Pole Inn, Annascaul, Co Kerry... At the Shackleton Museum, Athy, Co. Kildare, and also below decks in the Ward Room of "R.R.S.Discovery" now berthed in Dundee, Scotland. Apart from my own recording of The Ballad of Tom Crean, (Which you can listen to for free by going to www.myspace.com/cliffwedgbury)It has also been recorded by P.J.Murrihy, a fine ballad singer from Co. Clare, and also quite recently by Jimmy Crowley and Martin deCogan, who have a couple of postings on UTube. I have been writing and performing songs since my teenage years when I used to sing around the London folk clubs during the sixties with Al Stewart and Peter Bellamy, at clubs like Bunjies, Litchfield Street and "LesCousins," in Greek Street. Happy Days of fun and good music. (Sandy Denny poured the cokes in LesCousins, then got up on stage and sank like a lark until dawn. Best Wishes from Cliff Wedgbury.

Subject: RE: Ballad of Tom Crean
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 16 Jun 10 - 02:33 PM

A lovely song. I just listened to Cliff's version. mg

Subject: RE: Ballad of Tom Crean
From: Reiver 2
Date: 20 Jun 10 - 11:59 AM

I love the Ballad of Tom Crean by Clif Wedgbury, especially as sung by Mairtin de Cagan and Jimmy Crowley, but can't get all of the words from listening to it on YouTube. Can someone - Clif perhaps - please post the words to the song here on the Mudcat? I'd MUCH appreciate that. Thanks in advance!

Reiver 2

Subject: RE: Ballad of Tom Crean
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 20 Jun 10 - 12:44 PM

I'll Facebook your request to him, though he'll probably see it here too. If he doesn't want to post them publicly but is happy to pass them on, he can Facebook them to me and I'll PM them to you. You're right, it's a great song.

Subject: RE: Ballad of Tom Crean
From: GUEST,BB
Date: 20 Jun 10 - 01:16 PM

courtesy http://www.annascaul.net/tom_crean_tributes.php

Antarctica Song - Tom Crean Song By Crew Members Recorded 1918:

Hail, hail, Tom Crean, hail, hail, Tom Crean,
He's the bravest man that the world's ever seen.
Hail, hail, Tom Crean, hail, hail, Tom Crean,
He's the Irish giant from county Kerry.

Walked thirty-five miles in the Arctic alone
To save Teddy Evans from making his bones.
He went down to the south with Shackleton and Scott,
Won three polar medals and a coward he's not.
Faced death many times, but he never backed down.
Came home to Anascaul, his little home town.

Hail, hail, Tom Crean, hail, hail, Tom Crean,
He's the bravest man that the world's ever seen.
Hail, hail, Tom Crean, hail, hail, Tom Crean,
He's the Irish giant from county Kerry.

Subject: RE: Ballad of Tom Crean
From: GUEST,Cliff Wedgbury.
Date: 20 Jun 10 - 04:37 PM

The Ballad of Tom Crean.
by
Cliff Wedgbury.

Chorus: He ran away to join the navy,
       When he was just fifteen.
       The farmers son from Annascaul,
       The tough and brave Tom Crean.

Now the unsung hero, who sailed with Captain Scott,
On a doomed attempt to reach The Pole,
To explore that frozen plot.
'Twas Crean who found Scott's body, Frozen where he slept,
He built a cairn upon the man, Said his prayers and wept.

Chorus:

With Shackleton he sailed again, to chart the icy waste,
Upon the ship Endurance, an icy hell he faced.
Frozen in the ocean, the vice of winter fell,
He made it to the island, down that glacier of hell.
To tell the story of the men, stranded far from home,
The whalers at South Georgia, crossed the savage foam;
To reach the men who waited, for long months it is told
Sheltering in upturned boats, upon a beach so cold,
Eating seal and penguin, seaweed from the shore,
Never ever knowing, if they would see their homes once more.

Chorus:

With Shackleton he bravely sailed, To rescue every man,
A kind and loyal friend to all, this cheerful-hearted man.
With a song to help the weary, a tune to lift the sad,
Always optimistic, this happy sailor lad.
For without a tough mans courage, determination too,
Things could have been so different, for that sad and stranded crew.
Yet, The James Caird made South Georgia,
Mountain peaks were climbed,
Relief was quickly organized, for the poor souls left behind.

Chorus:

But he came home and fell in love, a local girl he wed,
The South Pole Inn he opened, to pull black pints instead.
A father of three daughters, Mary, Kate, Eileen.
Though he left this world at sixty-one,
His deeds live on, Tom Crean.
------------- -- ------------

Copyright:-Words and Music composed by Cliff Wedgbury.
email;- [e-mail]
www.myspace.com/cliffwedgbury (Where you can listen to my recording and some other of my songs.)
-------------- -- -------------

Thanks Bonnie!!

Subject: RE: Ballad of Tom Crean
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 20 Jun 10 - 05:10 PM

Lovely words by Cliff

And how awesome is it that we can hear Arctic explorers singing a song they wrote themselves about a true hero? It is like a little time warp or something.

Subject: RE: Ballad of Tom Crean
From: GUEST,simply purple
Date: 21 Jun 10 - 04:49 AM

I knew very little of Antarctic exploration and had never heard of Tom Crean until visiting "The South Pole Inn" in May 2008.

Bought the books about him and have since read others about Shackleton. In my eyes, Tom Crean is the greatest hero of them all.

Thanks for this thread and for the links to the songs and footage, I've had a good cry watching and listening

L

Subject: RE: Ballad of Tom Crean
From: Reiver 2
Date: 21 Jun 10 - 05:51 PM

My profound thanks to Clif and to Bonnie Shaljean for posting the lyrics. It's a GREAT song telling the story of a GREAT MAN. If the Reivers were still active, I'd insist that we include this song in our repertoire. My next trip to green Ireland will most definitely include a visit to Annascaul and The South Pole Inn. I'm just sorry that I won't get to meet Tom Crean's daughters and tell them how much I admire their father. Thanks again!

Reiver 2

Subject: RE: Ballad of Tom Crean
From: GUEST,MG
Date: 21 Jun 10 - 07:11 PM

Someone on a genealogy board said his daughters were alive and well in around 2000 and lived in Ireland, not too far away. A grandson is a priest apparently. mg

Subject: RE: Ballad of Tom Crean
From: Reiver 2
Date: 22 Jun 10 - 02:19 PM

MG, it's possible. I saw somewhere, that the North Pole Inn was no longer in the family, but nothing about whether the daughters had sold it or had passed away. I jumped to a , hopefully mistaken, conclusion. Maybe simply purple, who visited the SPI in 2008, will see this and can provide the answer.

Reiver 2

Subject: RE: Ballad of Tom Crean
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 22 Jun 10 - 03:51 PM

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/2906_shacklet.html

Here is something interesting..there are lots of interesting things on the internet about him and the expedition.

Some family members seem to be alive and well and seem to be somewhat in public life. mg

Subject: RE: Ballad of Tom Crean
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 08 Sep 10 - 01:13 PM

Here is an interesting story about a Kerry woman commissioned to write some music about Tom Crean. Does anyone know if this has happened?

http://www.tomcrean.com/images/article.pdf

She mentions how he sang. I am reading a book by one of the crew members..Worsley??? who talks about the people on board singing. I think it is quite possible that the old recording is for real. mg

Subject: RE: Ballad of Tom Crean
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 08 Sep 10 - 09:31 PM

Here is an interesting writeup.

http://greatbritishnutters.blogspot.com/2008/03/tom-crean-wild-man-of-borneo.html

Subject: RE: Ballad of Tom Crean
From: GUEST,Patrick Kavanagh Molgoggers Sea Shanty group
Date: 21 Oct 16 - 02:53 PM

I think that maybe 1918 was a few years late for this recording i.e. if it was recorded by the crew of the Endurance in 1918. The Endurance sank in November 1915 and the crew were rescued on August 30th from Elephant Islnad.
There are a number of Wax Cylinder recordings attributed to Shackleton made early in the century.

Subject: RE: Ballad of Tom Crean
From: Felipa
Date: 18 Feb 23 - 07:24 PM

video of Mick Maloney talking about Tom Crean and singing The Ballad of Tom Crean by Cliff Wedgebury; along with Lucy Johnston, Brenda Castles, and John Doyle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg-ZiUAk87o

Subject: RE: Ballad of Tom Crean
From: Felipa
Date: 18 Feb 23 - 07:26 PM

February is a month for celebrating the Shackleton expedition - both Ernest Shackleton and Tom Crean were born in mid February https://www.dib.ie/biography/crean-thomas-tom-a2175 It was also in the month of February that the men and dogs had to abandon ship (although the Endurance continued to drift, and as Patrick Kavanagh wrote in the previous message, didn't sink until Nov.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endurance_(1912_ship)

Subject: RE: Ballad of Tom Crean
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 19 Feb 23 - 02:08 PM

I too have misgivings about who was singing the 1918 song. The last line about coming home to Anascaul would suggest it was more likely written and sung by locals to that place. An awesome survival either way.