Antarctic Hero: New graphic novel delves into incredible story of Kerry explorer Tom Crean
Just as the story of Tom Crean, a farmer's son from Co Kerry who left school early to enlist in the Royal Navy, is bound up with with two of the great explorers of the Heroic Age of Polar Exploration, Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Henry Shackleton, so is the story of author and journalist Michael Smith with Crean. The Kerryman might have remained a largely overlooked figure were it not for Smith's tenacity and curiosity. Smith wrote the book on Crean, An Unsung Hero (2002).
'I was particularly drawn to Tom Crean because nobody had written about him,' Smith relates. 'He was very much overlooked and forgotten. And hence, the title of the book.
"He was a completely unknown figure, even in Ireland. Who would have thought it! Amazing now given he is almost a national icon in the country. At the time, however, when I wrote the book, it was 'Tom who?''
There were sound reasons for this state of affairs. Having returned home to settle down in an Ireland that was in the throes of revolution against the British empire, Crean's career, extraordinary as it was, may have had him viewed with some suspicion during the height of nationalistic fervour. He was also a modest man, and as Smith observes, history is written by the great and the good.
'It's never written about the ordinary men. And when I read these books about Scott and Shackleton, this fellow Tom Crean kept cropping up all the way through the story. Not just as a bit part player, but was a central character in these remarkable stories.
"And I genuinely looked around for a book, because I thought he sounds like an interesting man - I'd love to read about him. And when I looked there wasn't a book. And putting it bluntly, I thought why don't you get off your smooth, but perfectly formed backside and do it yourself, and so I did,' he says.
Two pages from Tom Crean: Irish Antarctic Hero, by Michael Smith and David Butler.
Where the final chapter of Crean's life was one of obscurity, as he settled down to raise a family and live life as an innkeeper, Smith, who had a distinguished career as a journalist writing for The Guardian, covering political and economic affairs, packed it in in his 50s to pursue his passion as an author.
While he has been evangelical towards his favourite subjects, Smith has been far from conservative in his approach. Having ventured into children's books - he is particularly proud that his children's adaptation Tom Crean Ice Manis on the Irish school curriculum - he now breaks new ground by venturing into the world of comics.
Illustrated by acclaimed artist David Butler, whose last book was a graphic biography of Michael Collins, Tom Crean: Irish Antarctic Hero is a vivid and engaging telling of Crean's life, bringing to life the heroic risks he took on his great adventures. Now in his 70s, Smith is surprised and delighted to add the title of graphic novelist to his list of literary achievements.
'Not in a million years would I have dreamt of doing a graphic novel about Tom Crean,' Smith says.
'For me, the biggest challenge as the writer was condensing a 100,000 words story into 6,000 words. And also to see the story of Tom Crean as a visual piece of work.
"As a writer, you obviously have pages and pages in which you can describe details and adventures. With a pictorial book I had to stop doing that and think in a pictorial sense.
"And David and I worked very well together. I mean you'd think we were close buddies. I hardly knew him. I'd met him a few times, but we worked brilliantly together. And like I said he's a very accomplished artist. It's been a real joy to do it. For me, it's a huge departure. And even at my advanced age I'm always up for something new.'
Having illustrated a graphic novel on Shackleton, The Voyage of The James Caird, it was Butler who proposed the idea to Smith.
'He certainly knew the background,' Smith confirms. 'He had a really good grasp. He wasn't starting from scratch, and that was really important. And that's why when we began to work together we clicked immediately because we were both singing off the same hymn sheet really.'
Finally, he proudly reflects: 'I thought it was interesting if you wanted to promote the graphic novel as an artform, who better to do it than Tom Crean?'
Tom Crean: Irish Antarctic Hero by Michael Smith and David Butler is out on O'Brien Press
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RTÉ News
4 days ago
- RTÉ News
WWI letters and medals found in house in Tipperary
A collection of letters and medals from a soldier serving on the Front Line during World War I have been discovered in a house in Tipperary. They were found during a clear out of a house in Thurles. Denis Kenny and his family were recently clearing out the house of his late mother when they discovered a small box containing letters, cards and medals. The memorabilia are of his late grand uncle James Maher - or Jem - who served with the Royal Field Artillery Regiment of the British Army in WWI. James joined the war effort in 1915 at age 28. The box contains letters he wrote to his family at home in Thurles and details the living conditions of the soldiers on the front. In one of the letters, he expresses his hope for an end to the war and flags their preparations for an upcoming battle. This is understood to be a reference to the battle of Passchendaele or the third battle of Ypres, which resulted in over 900,000 casualties. James was among the casualties. He died on 11 August 1917 and is buried in the War Cemetery in Ypres. While James served in the British Army, his sister Josephine was a member of Cumann na mBan in Thurles, fighting against British rule in Ireland. Denis said the letters give a fascinating picture of family life in Ireland at a difficult time. "It's an unusual tale. Some people chose to fight with the British Army in Europe and my grand uncle Jem was one of those, while his sister Josephine at home fought against British rule in Ireland. "Their relationship didn't seem to be affected by this - going by their correspondence in the letters. But I wonder how their relationship would have panned out if he had returned alive from the war." The letters and war medals could have been thrown out accidentally during the house clear out, but Denis said that the family are very relieved to have found them and are now making plans to have them conserved.
The Irish Sun
5 days ago
- The Irish Sun
Soldiers dug my grave & raped my colleagues when I was taken hostage working as BA cabin crew… ordeal still haunts us
AS Iraqi soldiers dug a huge ditch, one of them broke down in tears and told Clive Earthy that it was for the British Airways crew member being held as a 'human shield'. But the young man then told the father-of-three: 'Don't worry... the officer is a nice man and he will make sure you will not feel any pain because he will shoot you straight in the head." 14 The tail-fin of British Airways Flight 149 at Kuwait City airport Credit: Getty 14 Saddam Hussein with British hostage Stuart Lockwood, then aged six Credit: AFP 14 British Airwars crew and passengers taken hostage - pictured in a Kuwait hotel Credit: Bryony Reynolds 14 Clive Earthy, pictured, claims he saw 'military' men get on and off BA Flight 149 when it landed in the war zone Credit: Slky UK Limited © This was just one of several occasions when Clive, 82, from Alresford, Hampshire, thought during a four month hostage ordeal in 1990 that 'I was going to die and never see my wife and children again'. Now, 35 years on from the invasion of the Gulf state of The Jumbo Jet was allowed to stop in Kuwait City to refuel on August 2, even though the British government knew that dictator Once on the tarmac, fighter jets flew across the airport and there were explosions nearby. It only takes a moment to divert a plane, so why wasn't Flight 149's captain told not to touchdown? Clive, who was Head of Cabin Services looking after 367 passengers, thinks he has the answer. He claims a British officer in military uniform at the Boeing's exit told him: 'You're running very, very late, and I've been asked to escort off your flight a group of young men,' who were then ushered away from the normal immigration channel. Later, during captivity in Iraq, Clive says he was told by other members of the UK armed forces that they knew Flight 149 had been coming into Kuwait with important men on board. The theory is that the British Airways passenger plane had been ordered to land in a war zone in order to get a 'black ops' team covertly into the country. This has always been denied by the British government - but it is the policy of the authorities not to reveal SAS operations. Watch the trailer for the new A24 war film set in 2006 Iraq Now a Sky documentary titled Flight 149: Hostage of War has delved into the scandal of how innocent passengers came to be used as pawns by Saddam - who paraded his British hostages, including then six-year-old Stuart Lockwood, on TV. Last summer 94 people who survived that journey into hell joined together to sue the British government and British Airways for alleged negligence. That case is ongoing and is expected to put forward new evidence of a cover-up. Clive, who is part of the civil action, tells The Sun: 'I would just like the government, namely the MoD [Ministry of Defence] and British Airways to admit that they knew about certain young men on my aeroplane in advance and could have stopped our flight from landing in Kuwait. 'Do I want money? No. I just want an apology.' While who knew what and when is a matter of debate, what can't be denied is that Flight 149 should not have landed in Kuwait City on August 2, 1990. There had been tension between Kuwait and Iraq, both British allies at the time, for a number of months because Saddam could not pay the millions he'd borrowed from his neighbour to fund a failed war with Iran. When I went around with the boarding cards, they just sort of said, 'We won't need those' Clive Earthy Tony Paice, an MI6 Agent at the British Embassy in Kuwait, warned the MoD that 'from an early stage they were going to invade'. For three decades the British government denied this, until in November 2021 it admitted the Foreign Office had been told that Kuwait was being attacked prior to Flight 149 landing. Perhaps if the take-off from Heathrow hadn't been delayed due a fault with the plane's auxiliary unit, it might have made it out before the shooting started. Arriving late on the flight, the final destination for which was supposed to be Clive recalls: 'When I went around with the boarding cards, they just sort of said, 'We won't need those'.' Having been the last on, they were the first off on the orders of the military officer that Clive met. He explains: 'When they came up to the front, they were escorted, not through the normal passenger arrivals channels, they went down the steps at the side of the aircraft with the military officer.' Rape and executions Soon after Clive had bigger things to worry about - namely the safety of his passengers and crew. With explosions in the city, they could no longer take-off and were taken on a bus to the opulent five star Regency Hotel. One of the BA stewardesses was raped by an Iraqi soldier during the bus journey, and Clive saw first hand how ruthless their captors were going to be. I would just like the government, namely the MoD and British Airways to admit that they knew about certain young men on my aeroplane in advance and could have stopped our flight from landing in Kuwait Clive Earthy He recalls: 'I went up to the Iraqi major in the hotel and said, 'This young lady thinks she's been attacked on the bus, here, from the airport'. 'And he instantly got the guards, who were escorting the bus, and brought them into the lobby. 'The Iraqi officer took out his gun and handed it to the stewardess to say, 'Shoot him', which upset the stewardess very, very much. 'And the steward, who pulled the Iraqi soldier off of her, was handed the pistol and he declined.' Clive was told that the rapist soldier was taken away and executed. Daring escape 14 An Iraqi tank takes Kuwait City on August 2 1990 Credit: Slky UK Limited © 14 Passenger Deborah Saloom escaped to the US Embassy Credit: Slky UK Limited © 14 Iraqi troops controlled Kuwait Credit: Slky UK Limited © American passenger Deborah Saloom, 74, saw the horrors inflicted on the Kuwaiti population and feared they would be next. She says: 'We saw military men chasing men with their automatic weapons, we saw them rounding up people, we saw a man hanging from a rope from a communication pole.' Having been told that Kuwaiti staff were getting their families out of the country, Deborah and her husband B George, 77, decided to trick a bus driver into taking them to the US embassy. Deborah claimed she needed to go to the hospital, but on route revealed the truth. She was 'petrified' during the journey, with the driver having to find ways to avoid checkpoints. The Iraqi officer took out his gun and handed it to the stewardess to say, 'Shoot him', which upset the stewardess very, very much Clive Earthy It proved to be the right decision because they were safe in the embassy while other passengers were taken to military sites around the country and used as 'human shields'. Clive was not the only one who thought he'd be shot. British passenger Barry Manners was told 'I'm going to kill you' by a guard who then fired a shot away from his head. Even worse, BA steward Charlie Kristiansson was raped by a male soldier. Charlie says in the documentary: 'He shot into the ground and said, 'Britain has raped Iraq and you are going to know what it feels like'.' 14 BA steward Charlie Kristiansson was raped by a male soldier Credit: Slky UK Limited © The first Gulf War On August 2, 1990, tyrant Saddam Hussein ordered the invasion and brutal occupation of neighbouring Kuwait in a row over oil and loans. US Bush said: 'Iraq will not be permitted to annex Kuwait. That's not a threat or a boast that's just the way it's going to be.' Britain sent 53,462 military personnel in its largest single deployment since WWII. It cost over £2billion with most of the tab picked up by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Some £200million of British kit was lost or written off. The coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases. The first, Operation Desert Shield, marked the military build-up from August 1990 to January 1991. Iraq was given an ultimatum to withdraw, with a deadline of January 15. The second, Operation Desert Storm, began with an aerial bombing campaign against Iraq on January 17, 1991, which lasted for five weeks. It ended with the American-led liberation of Kuwait on February 28, 1991, after the coalition launched a major ground assault into Iraqi-occupied Kuwait. There was a constant fear that Saddam would use his stockpile of chemical weapons against coalition troops. There were many false alarms but the Iraqi despot didn't repeat his chemical attack on the Kurds in Halabja in 1988 which killed as many as 5,000. Gulf War One was the first truly televised war with audiences astonished by the accuracy of a new generation of smart bombs and precision guided munitions. RAF man John Nichol adds: 'You had reporters on the ground filming aircraft taking off, and landing, which went live on air. 'It was astonishing and brand new. Journalists were living in the hotel with the aircrew and buying them beers.' One of the defining moments in British coverage was when the BBC's John Simpson breathlessly told the nation a cruise missile had just flown past his Baghdad hotel window and was "turning left at the traffic lights". The Flight 149 crew and passengers were among 3,000 foreign hostages described by Saddam as 'guests'. Gradually, under international pressure, the dictator started to release women, children and the sick. B George was told there was a scheme for people with Arab heritage, which he had, to get out of Kuwait. He signed up for the scheme, but it was just a 'trick' to get him out of the safety of the embassy in November 1990. B George is tearful as he recalls in a Zoom call: 'They interrogated me. They put a gun to my head and told me they would take me to the desert and shoot me.' 'The penny dropped' Clive was taken to the city of Mosul in northern Iraq, where six men from the British garrison in Kuwait were also being held. Saddam hoped that the United States and the United Kingdom would not attack his country if their citizens were there. The British soldiers made a surprising revelation to Clive. He reveals: 'A couple of them told me, 'We knew Flight 149 was coming in on the 2nd of August.' "They said, 'London, MoD presumably, had told us, meet Flight 149 at the airport and escort off the men, military men, who were to do work in and around Kuwait'. 'And of course that was when the penny dropped. All of a sudden, everybody knew that there was military on my flight. Everybody except us.' All hostages were released on December 6, 1990 after 126 days in captivity. Six weeks later Kuwait was liberated in Operation Desert Storm, when British and US troops attacked Saddam's forces. 14 Members of the flight crew taken to a hotel in Kuwait 14 All hostages were released on December 6, 1990 after 126 days in captivity A search for answers In the aftermath of that victory, the suffering of the human shields has largely been forgotten. But they are still determined to find out why they were put in harm's way. An anonymous member of the black-ops team later claimed that he was on Flight 149. Clive, who worked for British Airways for 34 years before retiring in 1994, has been told by sources in the air industry that only one person could have ordered an SAS team to land in a war zone on a passenger flight. He says: 'They said, 'We think there's only one person who could authorise that sort of thing to go straight away, and that must be the Prime Minister, Maggie Thatcher'.' Thatcher, who died in 2013, denied there was a covert operation and all governments since have maintained there was no cover-up. But with the lawyers bringing legal action claiming they have new evidence, this story is not over yet. Flight 149: Hostage of War is on Sky Documentaries and Now TV on June 11. 14 The British Airways plane which landed in Kuwait was subsequently destroyed Credit: Getty 14 Iraqi vehicles abandoned near Kuwait City during Operation Desert Storm Credit: Alamy 14 The Sheraton Hotel in Kuwait City during the first Gulf War Credit: Alamy 14 MI6 agent Tony Paice warned about the invasion Credit: Slky UK Limited ©
Irish Examiner
5 days ago
- Irish Examiner
Aimee Lou Wood and Walton Goggins on ‘ridiculous' feud rumours
The White Lotus co-stars Aimee Lou Wood and Walton Goggins have both denied rumours that either of them are in a feud as 'ridiculous'. There has been speculation that the two co-stars had drifted apart after being on the HBO show, which follows the lives of guests and staff at a luxury resort as dark secrets are revealed and tensions rise over the course of the holiday. The third series sees the positive Chelsea, played by British actress Wood, 31, try to keep her mysterious older boyfriend, Rick, played by 53-year-old US actor Goggins, calm in Thailand. Following the 2025 series, Goggins appeared to step away from his fellow co-stars, and unfollow Greater Manchester-born Wood on Instagram. They both addressed the swirling rumours during a joint interview for US publication Variety, which was published on Wednesday. Goggins said: 'There is no feud. I adore, I love this woman (Aimee) madly, and she is so important to me.' Walton Goggins. (Ian West/PA) He added that 'she's special', and explained he had not addressed the reports before as he did not want to talk about Wood when she was not there. 'I think it's such a comment on where we're at culturally. Why is everyone obsessing over Instagram? That is irrelevant. We don't give a shite about Instagram,' Wood said. Goggins said that when he finished The White Lotus he 'needed to just back away from everyone', as it is his 'process' when filming a project ends. 'It's all so ridiculous,' he said. 'It's just a part of me just saying goodbye to this character so that now Aimee and I will be friends for f****** ever.' Wood previously criticised a Saturday Night Live sketch, with a cast member impersonating her with exaggerated prosthetic teeth, calling it 'mean and unfunny' on Instagram. She told Variety that it 'felt misogynistic. It felt like the punchline was a woman's appearance, which is just not funny. It's not cool'. Goggins shared the same sketch online and praised Jon Hamm for playing a version of his character, before deleting the Instagram post, ahead of hosting SNL. He said he was 'gonna say it (something) to your face', and added: 'I don't use social media in any way, and I'm not a mean guy.' SNL apologised for the April sketch, according to Wood, and the comedian and cast member who impersonated her, Sarah Sherman, sent her flowers to apologise. Wood is also known for Netflix teen show Sex Education, BBC comedy Daddy Issues and the 2022 drama film Living with Bill Nighy. Goggins has been in Western series Justified, post-apocalyptic series Fallout, and drama Sons Of Anarchy. He has had two Emmy nods, while Wood has won a TV Bafta for Sex Education and been given a Rising Star Bafta nomination.
