Crean volunteered for Captain Robert Scott’s Discovery expedition in 1901 and was among the last to see Scott alive near the South Pole in 1912.

He returned to the ice with Irishman Ernest Shackleton on the epic Endurance voyage. Undeterred by the hardships and hazards of trekking across the frozen wastes, more than once he risked all to save his companions in acts of astonishing bravery. When he settled back in Annascaul, the only hint Crean gave to his death-defying adventures was in the name of his pub: The South Pole Inn.