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

pretty finely. A lengthy blizzard at the wrong time would have trapped the men in their tents with disturbingconsequences. As it was, the bad weather forced the party to remain in their tents for nine whole days when supplies were plentiful. On another fourteen days, they either started late or were stuck in their tents for half the day. Further hold-ups would have eroded their margin of safety.

    Barne was unhappy at not making better progress but Scott fully understood the severity of the weather and later recalled that ‘ill fortune dogged this party from the start’. The party was also hampered by numerous ‘undulations and disturbances’ where the Barrier joins the frozen inlet at the bottom of what is today known as the Byrd Glacier in the Britannia Range.

    It was the most testing journey Crean undertook on the
Discovery
expedition. The party had to cross steep crevasses and ridges but there was some reward for the risks and hard slog of dragging sledges across the uneven landscape. Against the odds, they managed to chart accurately for the first time the mountain coastline running down to the Barrier, which in itself was a creditable performance.

    However, the party’s most significant contribution to the entire
Discovery
expedition was made purely by chance as the men were trudging northwards back to the safety of the ship. The returning party came across Depot A, which Scott had laid down and accurately fixed thirteen months earlier at Minna Bluff alongside Mount Discovery on the very edge of the Barrier. But to everyone’s astonishment, the depot had moved 608 yards (556 metres) in thirteen months, or more than 4 feet a day. Although scientists with the expedition believed that the Barrier was moving, the accidental discovery of the depot’s movement enabled them to measure for the first time the speed at which it was travelling. Scott described the news as ‘one of the most important results of the expedition’.

    Despite the hardships and lack of progress, Barne was pleased with his party and reported back to Scott:

    ‘With regard to the conduct of my party, I can only say that those with me are deserving of all praise. They allused their utmost endeavours to make the journey a success.’ 10

    The round trip for Crean and his colleagues was a little short of 400 miles (640 km), but the poor weather and heavy work meant it had taken 69 days to cover the distance – an average of less than 6 miles a day. Even after taking account of the time spent confined to the tent because of blizzards, the party travelled at a rate of only 7½ miles a day.

    In contrast, Scott’s party to the west during much the same time had travelled 1,098 miles (1,750 km) in 81 days which showed that the leader himself had learned at least one important lesson from his last lengthy trip on the ‘furthest south’ journey a year earlier. This time he had sensibly opted for proven man-hauling quality from the ranks of the seamen and had taken Evans and Lashly, two of the most formidable sledgers of the Heroic Age. On his ‘furthest south’ journey with Wilson and Shackleton, admittedly the first major expedition into the Antarctic hinterland, Scott had covered only 960 miles (1,500 km) in 93 days. The improvement was dramatic.

    Scott returned to
Discovery
on Christmas Eve, 1903, to find only four men on board. The others, including Crean, were busy with the laborious task of trying to free
Discovery
from her imprisonment in the ice.

    To the party’s deep dismay, there were now about 20 miles (32 km) of ice separating
Discovery
from open sea and freedom. There was a growing realisation that either
Discovery
would need a miraculous escape or that the ship would have to be abandoned and the men carried home on the relief ship.

    The men threw themselves into the task of freeing the ship, desperately trying to saw through 20 miles of 7-ft (2-m) thick ice in a vain attempt to carve out a channel. But after twelve days’ hard