To the ends of the Earth

Historian Michael Smith's latest book celebrates a great Irish Arctic explorer, Captain Francis Crozier. By Edward O'Hare

Captain Francis Crozier: Last Man Standing? By Michael Smith. Published by The Collins Press. €23.95

By the early 19th century more was known about the moon than the Arctic and Antarctic. It was only in 1818 that the British Admiralty launched a series of expeditions to those mysterious regions. At the centre of the action during most of these epic adventures was a modest, unassuming Irishman named Francis Crozier, the subject of this absorbing new book by journalist and historian Michael Smith.

Francis Crozier was born in Banbridge, Co Down in 1796. In 1810 Francis' father decided that his 13-year-old son would join the Royal Navy. In the 11 years between this and his first Arctic voyage Crozier had an exhilarating time. The Napoleonic Wars were still being fought and Great Britain had a fleet of more than 1,000 ships crewed by over 140,000 sailors.

By the age of 25, Crozier had seen Lisbon, Valparaiso, the Galapagos and the Marquessa islands.

One of Crozier's early seafaring experiences stood out from the rest. In 1814 the British ships set their course for home after many months patrolling the coast of South America. Instead, botched navigation brought them to Pitcairn Island. To their astonishment they found themselves being welcomed in English. Pitcairn Island proved to be the home of the descendants of the mutineers of the legendary Bounty. The 40-strong community enjoyed a state of civilization close to paradise. John Adams, the last surviving Bounty mutineer, was offered safe passage back to Britain. Having lived for 30 years in exile, Adams elected to remain behind.

Crozier's career as a polar explorer began in 1821 when he joined Edward Parry's crew on a two-year expedition in search of the North West passage, a route from Europe to Asia. This fabled passage proved elusive and on the second attempt to locate it in 1824, one of Parry's abandoned ships was crushed by an iceberg. Undaunted, the Admiralty ordered Parry and Crozier to find the North Pole. British explorers had observed the survival practices of Eskimos but instead of using packs of dogs as transport, the British pulled their own equipment across the vast ice fields. After walking over 600 miles the explorers found that the ice beneath their feat was breaking up. Once again tragedy was averted by the narrowest of margins.

In 1839 the Admiralty turned its attention to the Antarctic. The search for the South Pole had even higher stakes than the previous voyages. The Admiralty found that it was up against rival expeditions from France and America. To defeat them the Admiralty appointed James Clark Ross, the most experienced Arctic explorer of the age, as leader of the expedition. Ross's first action was to invite Crozier to become his second- in- command.

The two men undertook the most daring journey of polar discovery the world had known. Ross captained the flagship Erebus while Crozier took the helm of the support ship, the Terror. For four years they endured raging storms, shattering gales, towering walls of ice, as well as the deadly threat of scurvy. It was a tribute to Crozier's seamanship that when he returned to Britain in 1843 he had not lost a single member of his crew.

Despite the success of the mission Crozier arrived home in a state of emotional crisis. While stationed in Tazmania in 1839 he had encountered the love of his life, Sophy Cracroft. Many years her senior and possessing little personal wealth, Crozier stood no chance in competing with the gentlemen who sought Sophy Cracroft's affections. The realization that he would never win her heart left Crozier a tormented shadow of his former self.

In 1845 the Admiralty proposed a final expedition to find the North West passage for which Crozier, his body and mind quite worn out, volunteered.

The Admiralty boldly claimed to know the exact location of the passage and stated that the expedition simply had to claim it for the Crown. The whole venture was doomed from the start. Most of the crew were totally unsuitable for the task and no relief ships were prepared.

Before he had even left Britain Crozier had a premonition of disaster and made no attempt to conceal his belief that none of the sailors would return.

Two years into the voyage and all ships were lost amidst the ice. Crozier found himself in command of a group of men approaching starvation and, knowing full well that none of them would survive, he began a hopeless attempt to walk back to safety across the ice. All 129 men were lost.

According to legend Crozier himself was the last to perish.

Michael Smith's account of Crozier's voyages is breathlessly riveting.

Unfortunately, what he has been unable to do is give us Crozier the man as a personality distinct from his exploits. The probable reason for this is that the historical material that would have allowed him to paint a more intimate portrait no longer exists. The handful of Crozier's letters to survive give only tantalizing glimpses of his true character. Neither an enthusiastic adventurer like Tom Crean nor a complex genius like Ernest Shackleton, Crozier stoically accepted life as it happened. At least now his dedication to increasing human knowledge has been given the recognition it is due.