Thomas "Tom" Crean Biography and Timeline — Page 2

Lifeboat Escape from Pack Ice

Crean joins the expedition's lifeboat escape after the drifting ice begins breaking apart and the men are forced to seek solid land.

Role range: 1914-1916

Elephant Island Landing

Crean reaches Elephant Island with the Endurance party, giving the men their first secure landfall after months on drifting ice.

Role range: 1914-1916

James Caird Rescue Voyage Begins

Crean leaves Elephant Island with Shackleton and four other men aboard James Caird on an open-boat voyage to seek rescue assistance.

Role range: 1914-1916

James Caird Reaches South Georgia

Crean and the James Caird crew reach South Georgia after a seventeen-day voyage of more than eight hundred miles across the Southern Ocean.

Role range: 1914-1916

South Georgia Interior Crossing

Crean crosses the unmapped mountainous interior of South Georgia with Shackleton and Frank Worsley during a continuous journey to Stromness whaling station.

Role range: 1914-1916

Elephant Island Rescue

Crean returns with Shackleton aboard the Chilean vessel Yelcho when the remaining Endurance men are finally rescued from Elephant Island.

Role range: 1914-1916

Promotion to Acting Boatswain

Crean is promoted to acting boatswain after returning from the Endurance expedition, advancing to warrant officer status in the Royal Navy.

Role range: 1916-1918

Declines Quest Expedition

Crean considers joining Shackleton's Quest expedition but chooses to remain in Anascaul rather than undertake a fourth Antarctic expedition.

Death of Thomas Tom Crean

Death of Thomas "Tom" Crean