The Pups

When the dogs were brought aboard Endurance in Buenos Aires, nature had taken its course between Samson and Sally, and the first pups were born aboard the ship on 7^th January 1915 as Endurance made her way south through the Weddell Sea.  The Antarctic veteran Tom Crean had a love of animals and took over the role of midwife to look after Sally and her pups.

 Based directly on a Frank Hurley photograph the stamp shows Tom Crean holding the squirming bundle of mischief in his arms. They are about three weeks old. Left to right the pups are:  Roger, Toby (back), Nell (front) and Nelson.  Once it was realised Endurance was beset, Tom Crean constructed and ice-walled compound on the ice floe besides the ship.  This was to protect the mother and her pups from the weather and other dogs, and allow them to become acclimatised to the polar world.  Known as ‘Crean's Pups’, they prospered as he undertook their care and welfare and by August each weighed around 70lb.  Unfortunately, as economies had to be made when it was clear Endurance was doomed at the end of October 1915; all but Nelson of this litter of pups had to be put down.