Mrs. Chippy was a cat who accompanied Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–17, and - along with the sled dogs - was eventually shot after the expedition's ship, the Endurance, was destroyed when it became trapped in pack ice.
The tiger-striped tabby was taken on board the ship by Harry McNish, the carpenter nicknamed "Chippy" (as in chips of wood), for the purposes of rodent control. One month after the Endurance se...
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Mrs. Chippy was a cat who accompanied Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–17, and - along with the sled dogs - was eventually shot after the expedition's ship, the Endurance, was destroyed when it became trapped in pack ice.
The tiger-striped tabby was taken on board the ship by Harry McNish, the carpenter nicknamed "Chippy" (as in chips of wood), for the purposes of rodent control. One month after the Endurance set sail for Antarctica it was discovered that, despite her name, Mrs. Chippy was actually a male, but by that time the name had stuck. He was described as "full of character" by members of the expedition and impressed the crew by his ability to walk along the ship's inch-wide rails in even the roughest seas, but after the ship was destroyed it became clear that he would not survive, and Shackleton ordered him shot.
On 29 October 1915, Shackleton recorded:
This afternoon Sallie’s three youngest pups, Sue’s Sirius, and Mrs. Chippy, the carpenter...
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