Tom Crean

Thursday

Still under the weather, so a short post. The weather itself meanwhile remains terrific. Another all sun, no clouds day.

Regular readers of the blog will remember Tom Crean. He’s the Antarctic explorer who was born and died in Annascaul, just a short ride from Dingle. Refer to the map from yesterday (or was it the day before?) He actually spent more time in the Antarctic than either Scott or Shackleton, both of whom he served under. Read the story about it in the link above. It’s weird that when he returned from his explorations that he was despised by many because he had joined the British Navy, and Irish republicans hated the British. He joined in 1893 when he was just 15. On his return to Annascaul he bought and operated the South Pole Inn for many years. And he he never spoke about his life as an explorer. Never once did Tom Crean give an interview to a journalist or an author. Even his two surviving daughters were told precious little about his adventures. The South Pole still operates, but it not owned by the Crean family. Years ago a Dingle businessman (of ill repute) opened a brewery called the Crean Brewery, and all the pubs in Dingle and the South Pole Inn had Crean beer on tap. Alas, the businessman failed to pay his taxes, went broke, and the brewery closed. Crean’s granddaughter (Aileen) bought the rights to the beer brand and opened a new Crean’s Brewery in Kenmare. The South Pole Inn has three of the new Crean Brewery beers on tap. But I haven’t seen it anywhere else in Dingle.

So anyway, we went to Annascaul today to have lunch (at the South Pole Inn) with Susan McCarthy who used to be the hostess at the now defunct Chart House restaurant in Dingle. We’ve known her for 25 years, and she and Elaine have bonded over the years. She confirmed a fact I was pretty sure of. When we were last in Dingle at Christmas time 2023, we had dinner at the Chart House on New Year’s Day 2024. Jim, the owner, always closed the restaurant for the rest of January, reopening in March. He never reopened the next spring. Susan confirmed that Elaine and I and a couple from England were the last diners to ever eat at the Chart House. It was fun to see Susan and talk over old times and new Dingle happenings.

Pictures of the Day

The statue of Tom Crean shows him holding young dogs. It’s a famous pose from a picture originally taken in the Antarctic where one of his duties was caring for the dogs on the expeditions.

Then home for rest. Dinner was homemade Chicken Korma with salad and naan. Those are the same flowers still on the table from previous pictures. See that sun still shining in the backyard?