The amazing accomplishment described above was due to the endurance and talents of three exceptional men. Ernest Shackleton, Frank Worsely and Tom Crean.

Very disappointed at the lack of mention for Crean in this article. I would encourage anyone interested to read “Unsung Hero”, the story of Kerryman Tom Crean, one of our greatest heroes and a story to make any Irish person proud.

Scott of the Antartic:
http://www.theseanachai.co​m/2007/05/16/scott-of-the-​antartic/

And, for the AOM people in general,
http://www.theseanachai.co​m/2009/02/19/the-henryman-​list/

I highly recommend the excellent one-man play “Tom Crean” which has toured the U.S. I’ve seen it three times and am always moved to tears.

Sam, Shackleton was Irish – albeit partially Anglo-Irish – he was the son of a Kerrywoman. Tom Crean was also an Irishman and a Kerryman. The English have a long history of appropriating things that don’t belong to them, including Irish things. This happens particularly with Irish writers.

I won’t allow that to happen on this thread.

The other is “The Worst Journey in the World” by Apsley Cherry-Garrard. It’s an account of the fatal Robert Falcon Scott expedition to the South Pole, although the “worst journey” actually refers to a winter treck to the roosting grounds of the Emperor Penguin, which Cherry-Garrard made the winter prior to Scott’s polar expedition. Both books speak to the question of “manliness” that I have been discussing in another thread. Here’s the final paragraph of “Worst Journey”:

“And I tell you, if you have the desire for knowledge and the power to give it physical expression, go out and explore. If you are a brave man you will do nothing: if you are fearful you may do much, for none but cowards have need to prove their bravery. Some will tell you that you are mad, and nearly all will say, “What is the use?” For we are a nation of shopkeepers, and no shopkeeper will look at research which does not promise him a financial return within a year. And so you will sledge nearly alone, but those with whom you sledge will not be shopkeepers: that is worth a good deal. If you march your Winter Journeys you will have your reward, so long as all you want is a penguin’s egg.”

I’ve ordered the two books cited. Would you recommend we read one before the other? My inclination is to read the autobiography first, but thought I’d get your thoughts.