Tom Crean is one of the most iconic figures in Irish history.

Born in 1877 in County Kerry, he enlisted in the Royal Navy at the age of sixteen, a career that would bring him to the most extreme environments on Earth.

We all think we know the Crean story, but this book charts his full naval career in rich new detail, from his start in the Americas, where he was faced with rebellions and life-threatening storms, to Australia, where he faced the Black Death and threats from cannibals. But it was Robert Scott’s decision to employ him that led him to Antarctica, where his feats of heroism on two expeditions saw him help save the lives of crewmates on three dramatic occasions, most famously on Ernest Shackleton’s ill-fated Endurance, when the vessel sank leaving the crew stranded on the ice for almost 500 days.

Tom Crean’s is an extraordinary tale, one of an unassuming but quietly strong man who showed remarkable bravery in the harshest conditions on the planet.